


Pay the Piper

by Gears112, phantomthief_fee



Series: Drew World [8]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Again, Child Death Mentioned, Childhood Trauma, Demon coming to visit, Demons, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Joey is in trouble, Multi, Relationship(s), spoilers for chapter 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-23 02:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 33,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14322066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gears112/pseuds/Gears112, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: Still trying to recover from the 'shenanigans' brought on by Joey's actions, Henry tries to keep everything together, especially when a man from Murray's past arrives on the scene.





	1. Chapter 1

...

“Oooo~” Joey teased as he saw Joshua walking hand-in-hand with Cordelia as they entered the park. “Joshy’s got a lady friend~” Joshua merely looked at the demon.

“That’s more than I can say for you Bendy. I’ve seen how the angel chases you after the pranks you pull.” Cordelia snickered as Joey’s jaw dropped as the crowd of children around the demon laughed as the duo walked off to explore the park on Joshua’s day off.

“The kids love you,” She teased and Joshua chuckled.

“You better not let Nancy or Chris hear you say that; we’ll never hear the end of it. And you know-”

“You two will having the most adorable babies.” Joshua and Cordelia turned as Allison snuck up from behind, Dave following behind with a big grin on his face. “And I get to be the aunt that spoil them rotten as will Dave and Sammy~”

“You think Sammy would ever approve of me?” Joshua asked playfully. Cordelia rolled her eyes.

“He likes you, he’s just a weird way of showing it.” Joshua looked at Cordelia.

“Dee, if it wasn’t for Nancy or the fact our moms are best friends, Sammy would’ve personally carried me to Joey as an offering to whatever insanity he was playing with.” Cordelia punched his arm gently.

“Joshy!” He looked at Cordelia with a questioningly glance. “Joshy, I’m serious! Sammy just has a weird way of showing his affections.” The four adults paused as they heard a childish giggle near them. Joshua paled slightly as he looked for the child. “Joshy…?”

“T-That was Linda’s voice…” He managed out softly and Allison raised an eyebrow.

“Linda?” Allison repeated. “Who’s she?” Joshua was quiet before shaking his head.

“I gotta talk to Henry…” He said quickly before quickly walking to Henry’s office. Cordelia sighed softly as Allison looked at her in concern.

“Dee…?”

“Here’s what I know about Linda…”

.

* * *

 

.

Alistair chuckled as he made his way through the park; it was rather entertaining to see the children playing around, while their parents were attempting to not fall asleep on themselves. He politely let the children rush by him, either chasing the cartoon angels or the wolf toons, before making his way to the main office. He noticed a young man entering and noted that there was a residual aura on him, not coming from him, of course, but apparently the young man seemed to be a favorite of a nearby spirit or demon. Alistair made a note of that, just in case, before he opened the door.

“Mr. Drew?” He said casually, as if he wasn’t a demon coming to see the man that managed to convince an up-and-coming magician like Murray to leave his cult. He blinked in surprise as he heard and saw a cartoon demon, sitting atop the main desk in the room, smacking its face with his gloved hand.

“Oh %@#$ me…” 


	2. Chapter 2

Alistair was surprised to say the least. He just stared at the little cartoon demon that very clearly possessed the soul of one Joey Drew. Apparently, someone had already beat him to his mission of punishing Joey Drew for his crimes. Well, that didn’t mean he couldn’t still declare himself.

“Well, now I see what Murray meant when he said you were ‘going through stuff’.” He said, starting to laugh.

“Wait, who is that?” The young man who had entered before Alistair asked.

“I’m assuming you’re Alistair Ainsley.” The other man in the room said. Alistair pegged him as Henry.

“You know him?” The young man looked to Henry in confusion.

“No, but Murray does.” Henry said. The little demon on the desk groaned loudly, scooting backwards away from Alistair.

“Relax, Mr. Drew, I’m not here to take your soul.” Alistair chuckled. Honestly, that reaction never got old. Alistair wasn’t even a high-ranking demon. He wondered how they would react if they met the princes or even Satan himself.

“But you’re a demon!” Joey sputtered. “Taking souls is what you do, right?”

“Eeeh, not my job.” Alistair shrugged. “Frankly, the soul stealing demons are more trouble than they’re worth.” They were always so serious. They’d do anything to secure a soul. Although, he did have to admit, there was something satisfying about taking a soul.

“Then why _are_ you here?” Joey asked.  

“I’m here because of her.” Alistair gestured to the boy standing beside Henry. Behind the boy appeared a young girl. She dripped ink onto the carpet as she manifested, looking slightly sheepish.

“Hello, everyone.” She stepped out from behind the boy.

“Linda?” Henry asked, eyes widening. “But…I thought you moved on?”

“She can’t.” Alistair said simply. “That’s why I’m here. You, Joey Drew, have trapped an innocent soul in this plane with your shenanigans Heaven has complained to us and so I’ve come to…do something about it.” He smiled at Joey, showing all his teeth. Joey’s pie cut eyes widened.

“&%$# me.” He whimpered.

“That’s right, Mr. Drew. You are in a lot of trouble.” Alistair wagged his finger back and forth. “Be glad Hell elected to send me and not one of the higher ups. They’re far less pleasant.”

“What are you going to do to me?” Joey asked.

“Well…” Alistair said, tapping his chin. “I was going to punish you somehow, but it looks like someone already beat me to it.”

“So you’ll leave me alone?”

“Nice try, Mr. Drew, but no dice.” Alistair narrowed his eyes as his smile widened. “I have a job to do, after all.”

 

Meanwhile, Cordelia had just finished explaining to Allison all that she knew about Linda. There was still a lot she didn’t know, but Henry had given her as much information as he felt comfortable giving and she wasn’t going to push it.

“That’s awful.” Allison whispered. “I can’t believe Joey would do something like that.” Dave said nothing, but put a protective hand on Allison’s shoulder, his expression solemn.

“I don’t know why he did it, but he did.” Cordelia played with the hem of her skirt. “Henry doesn’t like to talk about it, so that’s about all I know. And…now _you_ know.”

“I wonder why Joshua thought he heard Linda’s voice.” Allison murmured.

“Her soul is probably still lingering here.” Cordelia glanced back in the direction of Joey’s office. “I’m pretty sure whatever Joey did trapped her here.” Allison looked down at the ground, squeezing Dave’s hand.

“Enough about that.” Cordelia forced herself to smile. “We should enjoy ourselves while we’re here. I’m sure whatever’s going on with Joshy will be fine.”

“Well, if you say so.” Allison said.

“Let’s ride the bumper cars.” Cordelia suggested. “Those are always fun, right?”

“Yeah, they are fun.” Allison nodded, smiling weakly. She let Cordelia drag her to the bumper cars, Dave following behind. She had to believe that everything would be alright. Unfortunately, her father had chosen that moment to show back up. The security guards recognized him and immediately tried to stop him, but he would not be deterred. He’d seen his daughter come into the park and he was not leaving without her.


	3. Chapter 3

 

...

“Just my fucking day…” Murray grumbled as he started to make his way to the front of the park, where Mr. Pendle was arguing and fighting with the security team. He sensed Alistair and while he was worried for Joey’s safety, he had a job to stop this rich jackass from disobeying the rules and causing even more problems for the park. He saw the man arguing loudly with the taller of the security guards and mentally prepared for this bullcrap. “Excuse me sir,” Mr. Pendle turned to Murray, fury obvious in the man’s eyes.

“Where is my daughter!?” He snapped as Murray sighed, holding his hands up innocently.

“Sir, today is Ms. Pendle’s day off, she is not here, and she has requested us that you were not know her location or the fact she is working here. Now for the safety of our guests, I must strongly encourage you leave the park before we press charges.”

“I am not leaving until I see my-” Murray snapped his fingers in front of Mr. Pendle’s face, the man’s eyes glazing over as his body seemed to relax.

“You’re going to go home,” Murray said firmly. “And you are not going to return to the park nor harass the park employees anymore.” Mr. Pendle nodded slowly. “And you are going to rethink your choices and actions as a parent, and will calmly write to your daughter and apologize for your actions.” Murray snapped his fingers again and Mr. Pendle blinked slowly before shaking his head and storming off, grumbling under his breath. Murray sighed as the security looked at him in awe.

“Dude! That was amazing!” One of them exclaimed. Murray blushed a bit.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal…” He admitted sheepishly, unused to the positive attention from his peers.

“I mean I knew that you had a talent...but this is something else entirely…” Another joked lightly, laughing before sighing. “Hopefully that hoody-bloo thing, whatever you did, lasts for a while, cause dang, that man is whiny as hell.” Murray chuckled and sighed.

“Yeah...I’ll go report this to Henry and let him know…” The other security nodded and wished him luck before he headed off.

.

* * *

 

.

“How are you going to punish him?” Henry asked quietly, not taking his eyes off his daughter as she had pulled Joshua to a chair and had sat him down, sitting on his lap and talking to him, like they had used to do when they were younger. Alistair smiled softly and pulled out a handkerchief, handing it to Henry, who took it and wiped his eyes.

“Well, I must admit, the irony of this,” He gestured to Joey. “Is bemusing and very clever.”

“So you should leave me alone.” Joey mumbled, holding his knees as he curled up on the desk and Alistair gave him an unimpressed look.

“You know I won’t do that Mr. Drew.” He paused momentarily before making a bemused chuckle. “Seems like Murray used a bit of his talent…amusing.”

“What is all of Hill’s power anyways?” Joey asked curiously. “I mean I know he’s got power, but like...is he that yellow rat thing or the big blue thing that looks like a dragon?” Joshua looked up and over at the men.

“You know Pokemon?” Joey shrugged.

“It’s a thing the kids talk about, I’m hip with it.” Linda raised an eyebrow.

“You wouldn’t know hip if it pulled that demon tail of yours and tied you to a pole.” She remarked and Joey looked brighty offended as he gasped.

“Ex-CUSE ME?!” Alistair chuckled and looked at Henry.

“The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree, now did it?” Henry smiled softly.

“No...no it didn’t…”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Featuring a new character from Chapter 4!

Alistair watched as Linda bickered with Joey and smiled softly. It was almost cute. Such a pity the girl was dead and Joey was currently a cartoon demon. Well, fate worked in mysterious ways. He laughed softly.

“You said something about making Linda move on, didn’t you?” Henry whispered to the demon. Alistair turned slightly and nodded.

“Yes. The girl needs to go to Heaven.” He replied. “They’ve been throwing a right hissy fit about her not being there.”

“So…She’s going to leave again.” Henry seemed almost dejected.

“I’m sorry, my friend.” Alistair’s expression was sympathetic. “But if she stays here, then she might begin to lose herself. She’ll become a malevolent spirit.”

“How…How are you going to set her free?”

“Not sure,” Alistair admitted. “But I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry, she’ll be delivered to the Pearly Gates in no time.” He winked and patted Henry’s back. “Anyway, you’re safe for now, Mr. Drew.” Joey stopped arguing with Linda and looked at Alistair.

“You’re…You’re not gonna hurt me?”

“Not yet, at least.” Alistair chuckled darkly. “Right now, I need to figure out how to undo whatever you did to Miss Linda.”

“Right, um, okay.” Joey nodded.

“You’re going to take me away?” Linda asked quietly.

“Yes, sweetheart. You shouldn’t be here.” Alistair put a hand on her shoulder. “You need to be in Heaven. Your mother is waiting for you.”

“Maria,” Henry whispered.

“Yes. She gave me an earful, let me tell you.” Alistair laughed. 

“Yeah, that sounds like her.” Tears began to well up in Henry’s eyes as he smiled. Suddenly Joey froze, his eyes widening.

“He’s here.” He said.

“Who’s here?”

“DREW!” A voice boomed throughout the park.

“Piedmont.” Joey groaned.

 

Allison, Dave, and Cordelia were just walking out of the bumper car area when they ran into Bertram Piedmont, looking none too happy. Allison clung to Dave, recognizing the irate park designer.

“Mr. Piedmont, it’s good to see you.” Cordelia put on her greeter's face. “What are you here for?”

“I need to talk to Mr. Drew,” Bertram said, staring down his nose at the young woman.

“Mr. Drew’s a bit…busy right now.” Cordelia’s smile grew nervous. “But I’m sure-”

“Busy?! What on Earth could he be busy with?!” Bertram snapped. “He hasn’t made any appearances from what I hear? He’s down in that lab of his, isn’t he? Doing his damn tinkering.”

“Yes. That is exactly what he’s doing.” Cordelia let out a discreet sigh at this suggestion. “He’s in his lab and he doesn’t want to be disturbed.” For a moment, it seemed as though Bertram was going to back off. Then he pushed past Cordelia, headed for Joey’s office. Cordelia didn’t hesitate to give chase. Bertram couldn’t be allowed to see Joey in his altered state.

Murray, Bertram, and Cordelia reached Joey’s office at the same time. Bertram narrowed his eyes upon seeing Murray, who internally groaned.

“Mr. Piedmont. So good to see you.” Murray practically said through gritted teeth. No one liked interacting with Bertram Piedmont. He was such a prick.

“Hill.” Bertram nodded curtly in Murray’s direction before opening the door and storming inside. Murray groaned softly. Cordelia stood by, wringing her hands. As Bertram entered, Linda and Alistair both melted into the shadows.

“Drew!” Bertram yelled, scanning the room for the studio head. Instead, he found Joshua, Henry, and a little cartoon demon.

“Mr. Piedmont.” Joey smiled nervously. “What…What are you doing here?” To his credit, Bertram didn’t seem too terribly phased by Joey’s sudden change of form.

“You didn’t give me credit for designing and building this park!” Bertram said, striding over and jabbing a finger into Joey’s chest. “This is _my_ masterpiece, not yours.”

“Y-You’re right, I should have done that.” Joey nodded slowly. “I’ll do it. I will. You’ll get credit.”

“If I don’t get my credit, there will be consequences.” Bertram hissed before storming away. The room was left in silence.

“I, um, I deterred Mr. Pendle,” Murray said after a moment. “I don’t think he’ll be coming back for a little while.”

“Are you alright?” Cordelia ran to Joshua’s side, putting a hand on his arm and squeezing.

“Who was that?” Joshua asked.

“Bertram Piedmont.” Joey groaned, covering his face with his hands. “I hired him to build and design the theme park.”

“He’s arguably as crazy as Joey,” Murray added.

“That’s…great.” Henry pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just great.”

“What a lovely man.” Alistair reappeared, face twisted in disgust. “In any case, I’ll return tomorrow. I do believe it’s getting dark.” With a bow, he exited the office, humming to himself.

“We should head home.” Cordelia lifted Joshua to his feet. “I’ll make us dinner, alright?”

“Alright.”


	5. Chapter 5

...

“Joshy…” Joshua turned as he and Dee entered their home. She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Are you really alright?” Joshua sighed as he turned around, holding Dee close.

“No, not really.” He admitted softly. Dee lead him to the couch.

“Talk to me.” Joshua sighed and held Dee’s hand.

“Linda was my best friend when we were kids…” He whispered softly. “S-She stuck with me and stayed my friend after my dad died…” He wiped his eyes. “E-Even when I got upset, or lashed out cause, you know, angry upset child,” Cordelia chuckled. “She stayed my friend and kicked my ass into shape...making sure I got up in the morning when there were rougher days…” He snorted and wiped his face. “When Nancy first met us, she thought she and I were siblings, and then when we told her we weren’t, she immediately proclaimed she was going to plan the wedding.” Cordelia snorted as she imagined their friend being a wedding planner. “You two would’ve been great friends, Linda and you…” Cordelia nodded.

“I think so…” Joshua smiled tiredly.

“The accident was about a year and a half from my dad’s...death…” Joshua finished as he trembled before laughing bitterly. “We were going to that old amusement park for my birthday, you know that one that closed a few years back?” 

“The SillyStudios Dreamland?” Joshua frowned.

“Was that it’s name? I can’t really remember...though now that I think about it, Drew World does take a lot of inspiration from it...like a lot.” Cordelia sighed.

“I have a feeling that Piedmont designed that place too…” Joshua made a face.

“He’s….got some charm…” Cordelia snorted.

“Oh yes, he’s a bit of a prick…even if Joey didn’t try one-upping him, he still acted like everyone was beneath him.” She rubbed his hand softly, thinking about the wrath of the man and how she did her best to never be the one to interact with him.

“And Sammy hasn’t knocked his teeth out yet?” Cordelia looked away sheepishly and Joshua’s eyes widened. “Dee...Dee! Dee, he did, didn’t he?!” He leaned closer towards his girlfriend.

“Joshy!” She went red. “I-I can’t tell-Joshy-I was sworn to-JOSHY!!!” She squealed as Joshua tickled her, laughing mischievously. Roy had ended up coming down to witness his sister and her boyfriend tickling each other on the couch, Cordelia squealing in delight as Joshua laughed about getting ‘the story’. Roy let out a very long sigh before turning back around and going straight to his room; he was going to have to play that tape Chris let him borrow at full volume now.

.

* * *

 

.

Alistair arrived at the park bright and early, casually entering and waltzing his way to the office; he figured out a few plans to help the girl move on, and a few possibilities for some ‘punishments’ for Joey to go through. Frankly it was mildly amusing to have the man now in such a ironic form, and it bemused the demon.

“Out of my way!” Alistair was understandably startled when he was shoved out of the way by the irate park designer. The man stormed off and Alistair had to remind himself he was in public before he smote the man for his rudeness. However, the man was heading to the office, so if the man was rude to him again, perhaps he would be able to get away with some ironic transformation for the man. Alistair beamed brightly at the thought before starting his way back to the office, running through the characters he remember watching once when he was bored.

“Perhaps that little spider fella…” He mused to himself as he spotted a few kids trying to climb Boris, who was happily obliging. “Though he might learn some humility as the wolf…” There was a loud popping sound, like bones popping out of place.

“Learn your damn place!” He heard the park designer snap and saw that Joshua, in his uniform, staggering back, holding his face and trying to stay upright. “ _ I  _ am the designer of this park; I do not need you telling me what I can or can’t do!” Alistair furrowed his brows as he sensed the man’s aura; not a demon, yet there was a definite aura of a malicious creature surrounding the man, which would explain the strength and possibly his sour attitude. Alistair pursed his lips; after he checked on that Joshua fellow, it looked like he would be able to deal out some  _ proper _ demonic punishments today.


	6. Chapter 6

Bertram had been having a frankly terrible day up until this point. Not only was Joey a tiny cartoon demon, and thus couldn’t make appearances as intended, but this insolent whelp had decided to tell Bertram how to run _his_ park! He had been about to give the boy a piece of his mind when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Bertram turned around, ready to yell at whoever had interrupted him but immediately stopped. The man who’d tapped him on the shoulder was small, not terribly physically imposing, but there was a presence about him that made Bertram feel that yelling at him would be a terrible idea.

“Hello there.” The man said, smiling amiably. “I just so happened to notice you assaulting this poor boy. I do believe that’s terribly unbecoming behavior for a theme park. This is a place of wonder and magic! We can’t have violence on park grounds, can we?”

“With all due respect, sir, I’m allowed to discipline park employees as I see fit.” Bertram put on his business smile. “Although, I fail to see how this is any of your business.”

“Oh, it’s very much my business.” The man opened his eyes, revealing black sclera and red irises. “After all, Joshua Foster is very close to the spirit I’m trying to help.” Bertram audibly swallowed and took a step back.

“Are you alright, Mr. Foster?” The small man pushed back Bertram, checking the young man over. “Oh dear. That looks like a broken jaw. Tsk. That won’t do.” Bertram turned slowly to see the small man’s hands glowing with an unearthly light. When he withdrew his hands, Joshua was as good as know.

“Thanks.” Joshua muttered.

“You’d best get back to work.” The small man patted Joshua’s back. “I’ll deal with Mr. Piedmont.” Joshua nodded and quickly left.

“What…What are you?” Bertram asked, eyes widening.

“My name is Alistair Ainsley.” The small man bowed dramatically, sweeping off his bowler hat. “Or, at least, that happens to be the name of this body. I took it as compensation for my last contract.”

“Contract?”

“I’m a demon, Mr. Piedmont,” Alistair said brightly, slinging his arm around Bertram’s shoulder. “Walk with me, won’t you?” Bertram put up no resistance as Alistair began to walk with him.

“You see, I was sent here to help Mister Ross’ daughter move on,” Alistair said. “She’s very attached to Mister Foster, so I wouldn’t want any harm to come to him or his girlfriend. You can do what you like to Mister Drew, though. He’s due for some punishment.”

“You’re just trying to scare me.” Bertram gathered his wits. “Demons don’t exist.”

“Oh, we do.” Alistair looked up at Bertram with those unearthly eyes. “I would think you’d be a believer, though. You have a nasty spirit latched onto you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t noticed?” Alistair asked. “No change in demeanor? Feeling more irritable?”

“No. Nothing has changed.” Bertram wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or afraid. There was something so ordinary about Alistair. But behind that placid smile, the park designer knew a monster lurked.

“So it’s just latched onto your because you’re such a prick. Huh.”

“That’s very rude!”

“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Alistair gave him a rather patronizing look. “You’re always been a little bit of a jerk to everyone around you, right? Always pretending you’re superior to others.”

“I am superior!” Bertram snapped, although he kept his voice down. Alistair chuckled and shook his head, patting Bertram’s head.

“It’s always cute when you humans try to back up your foolish delusions.” He said. “You’re not superior to anyone. You’re a sad little man who hates because you’re afraid of everyone and anything that’s different from you. Your kind is a dime a dozen. Now either clean up your act or I’ll turn you into one of the cartoon characters.” He smiled the entire way through it, although the expression didn’t reach up to his eyes. Alistair patted Bertram’s cheek and walked away, whistling. He was actually hoping that Bertram kept being an asshole. He definitely wanted to dole out some punishment on him.


	7. Chapter 7

...

“You alright Joshy?” Joshua stopped rubbing his jaw as he walked when he saw Allison as she was carrying some Alice and Bendy plush dolls.

“Yeah, I think so,” He muttered. “That friend of Murray’s fixed my jaw after that Piedmont guy punched me.” Allison gasped.

“He did?! Oh geez...Bertie is such a prick….” She sighed, shaking her head. “He’s as bad as my father, so old fashioned…” Joshua nodded.

“At least Henry didn’t see it...rather not hold Henry back from committing manslaughter.” Allison took a moment to collect herself.

“He’s a very protective man, from what I’ve seen…” Allison chuckled. “Would you like to come with me to the main office? I’ve got some prototypes Shawn had made, and wanted me to show Henry.” Joshua nodded, about to ask about Shawn when she spoke up. “The man gets bored easily.”

“Ah, ok.” Joshua said as he walked with Allison, who ended up asking about Dave and the things he did when she had gone. Joshua happily complied and by the time they had gotten to the office, Allison was in tears, laughing, which piped the curiosity of Joey when they had come in, before Alistair came in, following behind.

.

* * *

.

Unknown to Bertie, he indeed had a malicious spirit attached him, though thankfully for the spirit, Bertie was too stubborn to believe Alistair that he had something attached to him. The creature mused as Bertie stormed through the park, taking a look at the details, while also making sure he wasn’t approached by any staff and risked seeing that Alistair man again. The spirit was annoyed, he was so close to gaining control of this petty man, but he just needed to push this man just a tad further, as to provide him an ‘option’ to gain control. Bertie wasn’t paying attention before accidently stumbling into Dave.

“Oh! Sorry there,” Dave said as he stepped back.

“It’s fine.” Bertam grunted in annoyance as the man looked around. “What are you looking for?”

“Oh, well, my girlfriend, sir. I wanted to surprise her for lunch.” Bertam bit back an eye roll as Dave rubbed the back of his head, a faint blush appearing on his face.

“How romantic.” Dave decided to ignore the sarcasm before seeing an employee. “Hey, Mel, you seen Allison?” Bertie froze, not even hearing the rest of it as he stormed past Dave, shoving the man aside and heading to the main office and get some answers from his former boss, especially regarding Miss Pendle and the ‘terrible influence’ that was the park owner turned cartoon demon was.

.

* * *

.

“I love you Linda…”

“I love you too Daddy…” Henry slowly pulled back from the hug, trying to not tear up, feeling like he was losing his child once again, as he watched Linda rub her eyes before walking to Alistair, only stopping to look at Joshua. “Keep an eye on my Daddy Joshy…”

“I’ll do my best,” Linda smiled before looking at Alistair. “Alright...I’m ready Mr. Alistair.” Alistair smiled and took the girl’s hand. Joshua held Henry in a side hug as Joey patted his friend’s hand as Alistair helped Linda move on and reunite with her mother. Just as the light had faded and Alistair was about to say something, the door slammed opened, revealing a very irritated, angry, and perturbed Bertam. Joey scrambled back on the desk, nearly toppling over as Allison went to be closer to the security guy and the owner of the park, hiding behind Joshua nervously as Bertie glared harshly at Joey.

“DREW, WHAT IN GOD’S NAME HAVE YOU DONE TO MS. PENDLE?!!?”


	8. Chapter 8

Alistair tried to hide his delight at the seething man in the doorway. However, it seemed plain enough that Joey gave him a warning look.

“Mr. Piedmont, please calm down.” Joey said, putting on his best customer service smile. “What are you referring to, exactly?”

“She’s dating a tattoo artist!” Bertram snapped.

“Yes, she is.” Joey nodded. “Is there a problem with that?”

“He’s a tattoo artist!” Bertram repeated. “That’s hardly the kind of person a young lady should be associating with!”

“Bertie-” Joey began before quickly correcting himself upon being given a withering glare. “Mr. Piedmont, who my employees date is none of my business as long as it doesn’t interfere with their work. Besides, Dave has been very good to Miss Pendle.”

“I can vouch for him. He’s a good guy.” Joshua said.

“I’m with Joshua on this one.” Henry agreed, wiping away his tears. “Dave has been nothing but kind to Allison.”

“I didn’t ask you.” Bertram said coolly, his nose wrinkling as he let his gaze pass over Joshua. “I was speaking to Mr. Drew.”

“Yeah, but _we_ actually know Dave.” Joshua shot back. He was feeling very emotionally vulnerable, and Bertram being a dick certainly wasn’t helping.

“This really isn’t any of your business, you know.” Alistair said brightly. “She’s not your employee. Even if she was, I think there are rules against interfering with her personal life.”

“I’m trying to help her.” Bertram said. “She doesn’t understand how dangerous these people can be.” Joshua was seething, but Henry held him back. They would be in even more trouble if Joshua assaulted Bertram.

“With all due respect, I’m capable of making my own decisions.” Allison stepped forward, drawing herself up to her full height.

“But you’re such a nice young woman.” Bertram said, giving her a patronizingly sympathetic look. “You don’t want to throw your life away like this.” It made Allison’s blood boil. She was sick of this! She was sick of people trying to tell her what they thought was best for her. She’d been listening to other people her entire life, letting other people decide her life for her. Joey Drew Studios hadn’t been perfect, but it had given her a chance to make her own choices.

“I’m not a little girl!” She said. “I’m sick of having people telling me they know what’s best! It’s my life! I’ll live it however I want!”

“You’re still young-”

“I’m a grown woman!” Allison screwed her face up and stormed over, jabbing a finger into Bertram’s chest. “And no one, not you, not my father, not anyone, is going to tell me what to do! I love Dave! He’s been better to me than any other man I’ve dated!”

“Miss Pendle,” Bertram lowered his voice, trying to put his hands on her shoulders. “Please, reconsider. A tattoo artist is hardly good marriage material. Think of your family-”

“Fuck my family!” Allison yelled. “Fuck my father and his backward racist views! I’m not going to let anyone tell me how to live my life!”

“See? He’s already influencing you!” Bertram said. “A young lady like you shouldn’t be using such language.”

“Shut up.” Allison snapped. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. I’m going to find Dave.” She pushed past Bertram and stormed out of the room. Everyone was stunned, save Alistair who was delighted by this. Oh, this was perfect. This was so perfect. No one was going to stop him from punishing Bertram now.

“I didn’t know she had it in her.” He hummed. “How delightful!”

“See what you’ve done to her?!” Bertram rounded on Joey. “She’s using foul language and disrespecting her elders!”

Joey looked over at Alistair. “Okay, you know what? You can have him.”

“Oh, Mr. Drew~ How kind of you.” Alistair laughed, rubbing his hands together. His eyes were glowing as he advanced on the park designer.

“W-What are you doing?” Bertram stammered, suddenly terrified. The room seemed to grow darker as Alistair strode forward, putting his hands on Bertram’s shoulders.

“Remember how I told you that if you didn’t clean up your act I’d turn you into a cartoon character?” Alistair asked brightly. Bertram nodded slowly, a small squeak escaping from his lips.

“That’s going to happen now.”

Everyone turned away as Alistair warped the park designer’s body into the image of the head of the Butcher Gang. They tried not to notice how delighted the demon was with this whole situation. It certainly cemented with Joey how he most definitely didn’t want to mess with Alistair.

“There we go.” Alistair took a step back, dusting his hands off. A perfect on model Charley stood where Bertram Piedmont previously had.

“Impressive,” Joey admitted.

“Impressive?!” Bertram sputtered. “IMPRESSIVE?!” He launched off on a tirade that frankly no one wanted to listen to about how they had reduced the Great Bertram Piedmont to a mere cartoon character.

“How long is he going to be like that?” Henry asked.

“Until he learns his lesson.” Alistair answered. “Which, admittedly, might take a bit. But don’t worry. We’ll get there.”

“I’m taking a break.” Joshua headed for the door. That had been far too emotionally draining. He needed to go sit down for a good long while. Honestly, they all needed a break. But with Bertram now Charley, it didn’t look like they were going to get one.


	9. Chapter 9

..

_ “Look Daddy!” Linda held up the picture. “We’re just like you! Me and Joshy made friends for Bendy!” Joshua sheepishly held up his paper for Henry to look at. _

_ “Hmm…Very interesting…” He said, looking over the paper. “You two did a great job….” Linda shoved Joshua gently. _

_ “I told ya!” Joshua just went pink as Linda looked at her father. “They’ll be in the next short, right?” Henry and Joshua’s father laughed. _

_ “We’ll have to see, Linda-Lou…” _

_ …. _

_ “Come on Joshy!” Linda dragged the boy to the couch and sat him down firmly. “You’re going to sit and see the surprise!” _

_ “I don’t want a surprise…” He whispered softly, seeming to be a pale shadow of himself since the accident, which ticked off Linda; her best friend needed to be happy again! She frowned. _

_ “You’re going to get a surprise and like it buster.” She demanded firmly, before looking at her father. “We’re ready!” Henry smiled softly as he got the film to play. _

_ It had Bendy walk down the road happily before seeing a rabbit slumped on the ground, a rain cloud of it’s head. Bendy frowned and attempted to cheer up the rabbit before frowning and pull out a lawn blower and began to blow away the rain cloud. The rabbit seemed to smile and hugged Bendy, and Joshua gasped. _

_ “T-That’s my bunny!” He exclaimed before turning a shade of pink. Henry smiled. _

_ “Linda was adimate about putting him in. This is solely directed by a Miss Linda Ross.” Joshua looked at Linda who beamed smugly. _

_ “We’re always going to scare away those rain clouds, Joshy. And this short outta get it in your head and remind you whenever you’re down!” Joshua rubbed his eyes and hugged his best friend. _

_ “T-Thank you Linda!”  _

.

* * *

 

.

Joshua slumped as he sat against the wall in the empty breakroom, struggling to not breakdown into tears; he lost his best friend again, his passion and best friend were being torn down  _ again _ , and he just witnessed a man being forcibly turned into a cartoon. He held his head in his hands and he curled up, trembling and crying softly, everything just becoming too much for the man. It went like this for several moments before he felt something blowing on his head softly.

“W-What…?” He looked up and bit back a surprised gasp; in front of him was his childhood character he had drew with Linda before his father’s accident. The rabbit backed up a bit, looking slightly nervous before smiling sheepishly. Joshua smiled softly as the rabbit opened his arms, as if asking for the hug. Joshua sniffled, remembering the old short and Linda words and embraced the rabbit happily, unaware that Henry was smiling softly before heading to check out the rest of the park, with Joey.

“You’re such a sap, Henry.” Henry looked at Joey a soft peaceful smile on his face.

“Maybe I am...but we’ve got a job to do.”

.

* * *

 

.

“I must admit, these churro things are good.” Alistair mused, clearly enjoying himself after transforming Bertie. He and the transformed Bertie were walking around the park while Henry ‘checked up’ on Joshua.

“You’re an @#$” 

“Demon, monkey boy. I’m a demon.”

“Alistair…” Murray spotted the two and came over. “Is everything alright? I was wa…” He stared at the former park designer, trailing off and Alistair laughed.

“Pretty good, if I do say so myself.” Alistair paused. “Hmm...I am sensing magic…” Murray frowned. “Not Mr. Ross...it’s a beginner coming close to here...probably not even aware of their power...hmph…” Alistair looked mischievously at Murray. “Perhaps you can teach them a few things...or they can help with punishing Joey…”

“You know my Uncle?” The two turned and saw Isaac, having just enter the park and had ran to see Charley. “Mr. Murray, isn’t this the guy you know?” Alistair looked at Murray, not even hiding his grin.

“You have some introductions to make, don’t you Mr. Hill?”


	10. Chapter 10

Joey had made mistakes in his life, he was aware of that. He’d done things that could never be excused and he was paying for it. He liked seeing people smile, he decided. Joshua had been so upset after seeing Bertram be…punished. Something about it had tugged on Joey’s heartstrings in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. Joey had decided he needed to cheer the boy up somehow. It definitely wasn’t because he had begun to care for the boy. That wasn’t it, not at all.

“That was very nice of you,” Henry commented as he and Joey wandered through the park.

“Well, you know me.” Joey puffed up his chest. “I believe in making dreams come true!” Henry laughed and shook his head.

“Thanks.”

“Sorry?”

“Thank you,” Henry repeated. “For giving that to Joshua. This has been really rough for him and I appreciate you making it a little easier for him.” Joey blushed and muttered something about just doing his part to make the atmosphere happier. Henry patted his friend’s head and they continued on.

.

.

Murray’s first instinct was to grab the boy and run. Being involved with a demon was the last thing that the boy needed right now. But Alistair got what he wanted, no matter what he had to do to get it.

“Isaac, this is Alistair Ainsley. He’s…an acquaintance of mine.” Murray forced himself to smile. “Alistair, this is Isaac Klein. He’s Joey’s nephew.”

“Joey’s nephew, hm?” Alistair nodded slightly, his eyes flashing red.

“He’s a child. Don’t you touch him.” Bertram snarled. Isaac looked from Bertram to Murray to Alistair, his eyes suddenly going rather wide.

“What’s going on?” He asked, his voice wavering.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Klein.” Alistair smiled wide and shook Isaac’s hand. Isaac jolted away at the demon’s touch.

“What are you?” He demanded, cradling his hand to his chest. Alistair looked at him with genuine surprise. Murray didn’t think he’d ever seen such a look on the demon’s face.

“Interesting. So you’re something like an empath.” He murmured, beginning to circle Isaac. Murray put himself between Isaac and Alistair, narrowing his eyes. Bertram was trying to pull Alistair back, but Alistair wasn’t moving.

“I’m not going to hurt him, Murray.” Alistair laughed. “You don’t need to protect him from me.”

“He’s a child and you’re a demon,” Murray said.

“He’s a demon?” Isaac whimpered.

“Unfortunately.” Bertram shot the demon a dirty look. Alistair just patted Bertram’s head placatingly. He was very interested in the boy now, mostly due to Murray’s insistence to keep him away from the boy.

“So, you’re Drew’s nephew, are you?” Alistair asked, holding a hand out to Isaac. Isaac recoiled from him.

“Hey! What are you doing to my brother?!” Rachel demanded, running over. Esther and Robert weren’t far behind.

“And you must be Joey’s niece and sister.” Alistair’s smile widened.

“Mr. Hill, who is this?” Esther asked, gently moving Isaac back a bit so he was away from Alistair.

“I’m not going to hurt any of you.” Alistair smiled disarmingly, but this expression did nothing to sway the fears of the Klein family.

“ _You’re_ Drew’s sister?” Bertram asked, slightly taken aback. Esther was so put together, so practical, so…normal.

“Wait, Bertram?” Esther squinted down at the small monkey toon. “Did Joey do this to you?”

“I did,” Alistair said. “He was being, excuse my French, a right ass.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Esther admitted.

“You can’t actually think I deserved this!” Bertram sputtered.

“Knowing you, you probably did.” Esther stared coolly down at him. “You’re not exactly a kind person, Mr. Piedmont,” Bertram grumbled to himself, but he did have to admit that he hadn’t been all polite to Esther when he’d first met her.

“Stay away from my brother,” Rachel growled. Alistair regarded her with an amused smile.

“My, you certainly have a fiery temper, don’t you?” He chuckled. “You’re every bit Joey’s niece, aren’t you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rachel demanded.

“It means you should be careful, little girl.” Alistair’s gaze sharpened. “Your determination is admirable, but you should be careful you don’t end up going the way of your uncle.” Rachel tried to launch herself at Alistair, but Murray held her back.

“Office. Now.” He said, giving Alistair very little choice.

“Very well.” Alistair sighed, shrugging slightly. He vanished and Murray stormed back to the office, leaving the Klein family to deal with Bertram. The demon was lounging on Joey’s desk when Murray threw the door open.

“You know, for someone with a self-proclaimed silver tongue you’re less than tactful,” Murray said.

“Talking back to me, are we?” Alistair raised an eyebrow, his lips quirking into a smile.

“Yes, I’m talking back to you!” Murray snapped. “Having me involved is one thing but involving _children_?! That’s going too far!”

“Is this really about the children?” Alistair asked, getting off the desk. “Or is this about what happened to you?”

“This isn’t about me.” Murray shook his head and backed away.

“Oh, but it is.” Alistair advanced towards Murray, taking Murray’s face in his hands. “You’re afraid they’ll end up like you. Especially the girl. She definitely reminds me of a certain hot-headed magician who didn’t think boundaries applied to him.”

“I’m not doing this here, Alistair.”

“I love it when you say my name.” Alistair hummed, kissing Murray’s chin. “I miss the time I spent in your body, you know. My knowledge, your power, we could have conquered the world.”

“I don’t want to think about it.” Murray pushed him away. Alistair sighed and withdrew.

“I’ll leave you for the moment. But remember, I’ll be around.” Then he vanished. Murray let out a heavy sigh and collapsed against the desk, rubbing his hands together. The sigils would never go away, a constant reminder of what he’d done, who he’d been. Maybe it was time to call his sister.


	11. Chapter 11

...

“What’s an empath?” Isaac asked, looking at his hand as Rachel puffed her cheeks, wanting to chase after Hill, but was being held by her mother by the shoulder, who seemed to sense that her daughter was going to act without thinking.

“It just means you’re good at sensing people’s emotions, sport.” Mr. Klein said quickly, chuckling nervously. “I’m certain we’ll get answers from Mr. Hill and his...friend soon enough.”

“Soon enough what?” The kids turned to see their uncle on Henry’s shoulders walking over. “Bertie better not be bothering you-”

“&*$#@ YOU DREW!” Despite the situation itself, the sight of a cartoon trying to be threatening was pretty funny as Isaac snickered and Joey smirked.

“Man, car horns are a lot more befitting you….” He laughed before hopping off Henry and walking over closer to his sister and her family. “So what’s this talk about things going on?” Esther sighed and rubbed her temples.

“We’re going to need to have a talk about Mr. Hill and his... _friend_.” Henry sighed, knowing that is was going to be a long chat.

“Shall we at least take a seat? Or head to the office?”

.

* * *

 

.

“Of course we'll behave! I can’t believe your mother doesn’t trust me!” Joey proclaimed as he led his niece and nephew towards some of the rides. “I definitely know she’s done shady stuff too!”

“Uh huh.” Rachel muttered, wanting to go with her parents to the office, but Joey and her brother and dragged her away, not that her mother disagreed with the idea that the kids should be spending time with their uncle.

“She did sneak out of the house to go with her friends to prom, her senior year.” Joey stated simply, her niece and nephew’s faces priceless as he snorted. “Boy, was dad and mom mad…made they knew right away she ditched to head to the prom,"

“No way!” Isaac exclaimed in excitement, laughing.

“Oh yes! She was grounded for a whole month! Aw man, her face when I told her mom and dad were waiting in the living room and had been there the whole night and wanted to see her when she tried sneaking back in….It was something...” Joey chuckled before spotting Joshua, walking around, with the rabbit holding onto his hand. “Oh hey, Foster! Bet I can’t beat you at the ring toss!” Joshua didn’t seem to hear as he continued walking the park, earning a pout from the demon. “Spoilsport. Knows I’d cream him in the ring toss so he’s running off.”

“Ooo, Rachel’s the best at that!” Isaac exclaimed and Joey looked at her.

“Oh really now?” He mused. “Care to go a round against your uncle?” He stretched his arms in a rather comical fashion.

“We should be with mom and dad and getting answers from that Alistair guy!” She demanded and Joey sighed.

“Look, the less you two get his attention, the better. He is a rather powerful guy-”

“He’s a demon.”

“Not what I meant, but still; the less pissing off powerful people, magical or otherwise, the Drew family does, the better. Now, ring toss,” Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes, irritated with the lack of ‘real answers’ she was getting. Looks like she was going to have to her own research to get what she wanted, but without getting caught of course. “Unless of course you know you’re going to get creamed like Foster,” Isaac made an ‘oooo’ sound as Joey smirked. Rachel frowned; planning would of course have to wait till after she dealt with her murderer-turned cartoon-uncle.

“You’re on.”


	12. Chapter 12

Joey was rather surprised when Rachel actually agreed to the ring toss. She had a look in her eyes that was almost mischievous. Isaac was honestly a little worried by this. He knew his sister. He knew her personality. She only got like this when she was preparing to give someone a smackdown of unholy proportions.

“Uncle Joey, you might want to reconsider this,” Isaac whispered to Joey. Joey’s eyes lit up and he grinned.

“You called me Uncle Joey!” He squealed. It felt like he was finally being accepted by his nephew! It felt really good, honestly.

“Yes, I did, but I have a bad feeling about this,” Isaac said. “Rachel’s planning something.”

“Eh, it’ll be fine.” Joey waved a hand dismissively. “What’s the worst she can do?” A very dangerous question, really.

“She’s really good at carnival games, Uncle Joey.” Isaac persisted. “She lost once and decided it would never happen again.”

“I’ll be fine.” Joey assured him, patting his nephew’s back. As it turned out, Isaac had been right. Rachel absolutely destroyed Joey at ring toss, much to the delight of the woman working the booth. Joey stared at the ring toss in shock. How had she gotten so good at this game? He was certain he’d rigged this.

“Not bad,” Lacie said, leaning on the booth counter. “Looks like your niece is a real force to be reckoned with, boss.”

“Miss Benton, I really don’t need this.” Joey murmured.

“Thank you.” Rachel bowed dramatically.

“I told you.” Isaac sighed.

“I’m a gracious winner, so I won’t hold it over you.” Rachel had her hands on her hips, standing over her uncle. “But I do want to know one thing. Who is Alistair Ainsley?” Joey’s shoulders slumped. She really wasn’t going to give this up, was she?

“Honestly? I haven’t the foggiest.” He admitted. “I don’t know all that much about him. Murray simply told me that Ainsley is a demon and that I should stay away from him.” Rachel groaned, hunching her shoulders and folding her arms.

“You really are his niece,” Lacie said as Isaac gently dragged Joey away. Bertram was being surrounded by children and Isaac kind of figured the park designer needed some help.

“Don’t say that.” Rachel snapped. “I’m nothing like him.” She drew into herself, the perfect picture of a sullen teenager.

“I know you don’t like him, but you can’t deny that you two are similar.”

“Stop talking, please.”

Lacie sighed, tucking a stray chunk of hair back behind her ear.

“Listen, my father, Norman’s uncle, he wasn’t a real great person.” She said. “But he was a whiz with machines, something I inherited. And I tried so hard to reject everything associated with. I wanted so bad to be nothing like him that I tried to suppress everything that made me _me_.”

“What’s your point?” Rachel asked, still sullen but perhaps a little less so.

“My point is, embrace the good parts.” Lacie reached over and patted her head. “You’re a determined little lady with a big heart, don’t try to deny who you are because it’s related to someone you don’t like. You are who you are.” Rachel stared at her for a moment, then smiled slightly.

“You’re a strange lady.” She said. “But I kinda like you.”

“Thanks.” Lacie grinned. “I try. Anyway, keep yourself safe, will ya? Your mother would have our heads if you ended up getting yourself hurt.”

“Yeah yeah. I know.” Rachel nodded.

“I mean it,” Lacie repeated, her voice growing stern. “You’re a headstrong girl, I can tell. That sort of thing can get you in trouble if you don’t get yourself some self-control.”

“I…I will.” Rachel said, paling a little. She ran over to her brother and Joey as quickly as she could, leaving Lacie to greet the next customer.

.

.

Henry led Robert and Esther back to the office, where Murray had just gotten off the phone with his sister. He looked up when they entered, immediately launching into a slew of apologies.

“Stop.” Esther put a hand up. “I just want answers, Mr. Hill.”

“What do you want to know, exactly?” Murray asked.

“You have a demon in your employ. One who claims my son happens to have magical capabilities.” Esther said. “How on Earth did you attract the attention of something so dangerous?”

“You aren’t…freaked out about the demon thing?”

“My brother is Joey Drew,” Esther said flatly. “I know a thing or two about demons.”

“That’s…concerning,” Henry said.

“It is what it is.” Esther shrugged slightly. “Now, how did you meet this demon?” Murray shifted uncomfortably.

“I…When I was young, I did some things that I probably shouldn’t have.” He said after a moment. “I wanted power, so I joined what can only be described as a cult. As cults went, it was rather tame. We didn’t worship Satan or sacrifice small animals. We used our own blood for the rituals, which is how I ended up…possessed.”

“Possessed?” Robert asked, a little startled.

“We didn’t think we’d actually make contact with a demon.” Murray continued. “Half the guys there didn’t know a summoning sigil from a protection ward. But we managed to make contact, and he offered me everything I’d ever wanted. I…” He hesitated, lips twisting into a nervous frown.

“You took his deal,” Esther concluded. “But you’re obviously not possessed now, so how did you get out of it?”

“My sister exorcised me.” Murray couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “After that, I ran away from the cult. And that was when Joey found me.”

“I see.” Esther nodded. “So why is he saying my son is an empath?”

“Because he is.”

Esther and Robert stared at him in disbelief.

“How…How do you know?” Robert asked slowly.

“I can feel it.” Murray answered. “He has latent magical abilities. I suspect he got it from one of your parents, although they might not have known they had it.” Esther sat down, running a hand through her hair. She’d hoped to have her children avoid the shady world that her brother had dragged her into. She didn’t want her children getting involved in the magical community. Now, it looked like they were going to be anyway.


	13. Chapter 13

....

“Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Henry grumbled, speaking for pretty much everyone as he rubbed his temples. “What would Alistair want with Isaac being an empath?” Murray shrugged absently.

“I’ve got a few theories…”

“And none of them good, I can only assume.” Robert snarked as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Can I at least be promised that there’s going to be no sudden flying objects when we head home?” Murray laughed slightly.

“Oh no, he won’t be doing that, at least that’s not what I’ve seen empaths do.” He promised.

“Then what can he do?” Esther asked, leaning forward in her seat.

“Well, he might be able to-”

“&#$@ING ROSS!” The door slammed opened and a very haggard looking Bertie stormed in. “I demand an aid with those brats out there! I nearly got slaughtered out there!” Joey, Isaac, and Rachel followed, trying to not laugh at the toon’s tantrum. “I have had it up to here with those snotty snively brats! They almost killed me!”

“They did not.” Joey laughed. “You’re just being dramatic,” He looked over at Murray and sighed. “Fun with Alistair I assume?”

“Mr. Hill was explaining his...relationship with Mr. Ainsley.” Esther said curtly before her daughter could interrogate Murray. “There’s just some misunderstandings that will be easily cleared up when the man returns. For now,” She stood. “I’m going to have a few words with your uncle you two. In private so stay here with your father.” Joey chuckled nervously.

“Hoo boy, if the loss at ring toss wasn’t enough today…” He said looking at Henry for help, but the man seemed to understand that he wouldn’t be able to stand if he got involved and rescued Joey as the toon was dragged out of the office by his sister. Robert sighed softly.

“Well, hopefully you still have a mascot, Mr. Ross…” Henry sighed.

"I hope so."

.

* * *

 

.

“A rabbit?” Joshua turned as he looked at the woman, who was staring curiously at the rabbit toon. “How interesting…”

“Uh, yeah,” Joshua said. “He’s my buddy, helping me keep an eye on things.” The rabbit nodded firmly and made a salute, which made the woman chuckle. “Is there anything I can help you with…?”

“Stella, my name is Stella, Mr. Joshua.” She introduced herself, reading his name tag. “I’m here visiting my brother, who works here...perhaps you can help me?” Joshua chuckled nervously, resigning himself for the insanity that he let himself into.

“Sure...what’s his name and I can see if he’s in.”

“Oh, I know he’s in, he just called me...his name is Murray Hill.” Joshua blinked slowly as the rabbit toon patted him sympathetically. “You know where he is?”

“There’s only one place he’s usually at….” He motioned her to follow him as he began his way to the office. “Follow me…”

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spell is broken

Esther hauled her brother out and into a quiet area where the two of them could talk. Joey could tell that his sister was rather shaken up, which worried him quite a bit.

“Everything alright?” He asked as they came to a stop.

“My son is magic and a demon has its eye on him. I am not alright.” Esther murmured.

“Yeah, that is, uh, probably a lot to take in.” Joey nodded slowly.

“Did you know?” Esther turned on him, eyes wide and concerned. “Did you know that my son has magic powers?!”

“N-No!” Joey put his hands up. “No! I didn’t know! I thought none of us had any magic!” Esther sighed and turned away, running her hands through her grey-streaked brown hair. It had come out of its usual bun and hung free now, brushing her shoulders.

“I didn’t want this for him.” She whispered. “I thought I could give them normal lives. I thought everything would be fine if I kept them away from you.” It was her worst fears becoming realized. Her children weren’t safe. They were in this world whether she liked it or not.

“I know.” Joey’s shoulder’s slumped. He knew he’d been a terrible brother and uncle. He knew he’d made mistakes that could never be forgiven. But he did want to change now.

“What am I supposed to do about this?” Esther sunk down onto a bench, head in her hands.

“Well, you’re not alone in this.” Joey hopped up beside her, taking her hand in his. Esther looked over at him. For a moment, she frowned. Then she sighed and shook her head, unable to stop herself from smiling.

“Right. Of course.” She bowed her head, squeezing his hand. “Thank you, Jojo. I’m sorry I blamed this on you.”

“I mean, it is kinda my fault,” Joey admitted, smiling disarmingly. “I got everyone into this whole thing.”

“I appreciate that you’re trying to get better, though.”

“Well…I messed up. I gotta at least try to repent.”

“I’m proud of you, Jojo.” Esther leaned down and kissed his forehead. Joey covered his face with his hands, groaning about how he wasn’t a kid anymore.

“No matter how old you get, you’ll always be my baby brother.” Esther laughed. Joey peered at her through the gaps in his fingers. He did feel bad that he’d dragged her family into this, but he did have to admit that he was so happy to be back in her life. He’d missed her so much. They’d figure this out together.

 

It had been a few years since Stella had seen her brother. She’d been surprised when Murray had called her. They were still on good terms, for the most part, but he’d practically vanished after being exorcised. No one from their family had heard a word from him since that day. To suddenly have him call her, almost panicked, made her extremely worried. And of all the places she’d expected to find her brother, an amusement park was not one of them. She could feel that this place was steeped in Murray’s magic, but also the magic of that awful demon. She tensed up a little at the feeling, fighting to keep herself from snapping. That demon had almost taken her brother away from her and she hated even the feeling of it. Taking a deep breath, she headed inside, almost immediately running into a young man and a toon rabbit. She was rather intrigued by this. She could feel her brother’s magic coming off of it. After some small talk with the young man, Joshua, he agreed to take her to where her brother was. Stella thanked him and followed him to the office. As they walked up, the door slammed open and a young girl stormed out, dragging a toon behind her.

“This really isn’t necessary!” The toon was saying.

“No, you’re going to talk to her.” The girl said. “She has to know.”

“Be honest with your feelings, Mr. Piedmont.” A boy followed them, nodding solemnly. “I’m sure Lacie will be happy to hear you like her.”

“You’re both terrible.” The toon groaned as he was dragged away. “Every bit Drew’s kin.”

“They’ve always been this way.” A man bringing up the rear said. Stella couldn’t help but laugh to herself as they left.

“Sorry about them,” Joshua said.

“Don’t worry about it.” Stella gave him a warm smile. “I’ve seen weirder.”

“Stella? You got here quick.” Stella turned around quickly at the sound of her brother’s voice. In an instant, she launched herself across the room and into Murray’s arms.

“I missed you so much!” She held him tightly.

“I, uh, I missed you too.” Murray laughed and patted her head.

“Your sister, I assume,” Henry said, smiling softly.

“Yeah, this is my sister.” Murray nodded. “She’s here to help with the situation with Alistair.”

“I can’t believe you still call him by a proper name,” Stella muttered darkly.

“Best not to piss off the powerful demon.” Murray reminded her. Stella muttered to herself, clambering off of Murray. Joshua took this opportunity to beat a hasty retreat with his rabbit. He didn’t want to deal with any of this right now.

“So, you know how to deal with Alistair?” Henry asked, eager to get things back on track.

“Well, I’ve got some ideas.” Stella nodded, casting a glance around the office with a wrinkled nose. “Ugh. I can feel his presence all over here.” She shook her head quickly. “But that’s not important. What was he here for in the first place?”

“Henry’s daughter’s spirit was trapped here by Joey,” Murray explained, causing Henry to draw into himself a bit. “Alistair came to set her free and punish Joey.”

“How altruistic of him,” Stella said dryly.

“He was doing his job,” Murray said.

“Oh, I’m sure he was.” Stella rolled her eyes.

“You really don’t like Alistair, do you?” Henry said. He didn’t really like Alistair either, but the demon had set his daughter free. He’d helped Henry.

“He’s a pretentious dickhead who tried to take my brother from me,” Stella replied. “I am never going to _like_ him.”

“Fair enough.”

 

Bertram was trying his very hardest to get away from the Klein siblings. He’d foolishly let slip that it had been nice to see Lacie again, which had led the siblings to extract from him that he had a bit of a crush on her. Rachel had gotten a look in her eyes that Bertram did not especially like and she had decided she was going to set him up with the mechanic. Isaac and Robert were coming along for moral support and supervision. Rachel was rather excited by this.

“It’ll be great!” She said. “Maybe she could even kiss you and break the spell on you!”

“Miss Klein, this isn’t a fairytale.”

“You and my uncle got turned into cartoons. It might as well happen.” Rachel looked back at him with a deadpan look.

“I…Suppose you have a point,” Bertram admitted. They reached the booth where Lacie was working. She looked up upon seeing them coming closer, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, look who’s back.” She smiled and shifted. “What can I do for you?”

“Bertram had something to tell you!” Rachel shoved Bertram forward. The park designer, for the first time in a long time, found himself rather at a loss for words. Lacie looked especially lovely that day, her hair forming a cloud around her head in the heat. Her sleeves were rolled up, revealing her powerful forearms.

“Oh really?” Lacie’s eyes swept over to Bertram.

“Um…Hello.” Bertram cleared his throat. “It’s good to see you, Miss Benton.”

“Oooh. Miss Benton.” Lacie chuckled. “We’re being formal today, are we, Bertie?”

“Please don’t call me that in front of them,” Bertram mumbled, feeling his face beginning to burn.

“You really like her, don’t you?” Isaac grinned. Unbeknownst to Bertram, little hearts were floating over his head. Little cartoony hearts that were floating towards Lacie. This made Lacie laugh again.

“Alright, all of you, out of here!” Bertram rounded on the Klein family, shooing them away. “If I’m going to talk to Miss Benton, I want to do it alone!”

“Alright. We’ll give you some space.” Robert took his children’s hands and led them away, despite Rachel’s whining. Only once they were out of sight did Bertram turn back to Lacie, arms folded.

“I’m very sorry about that.” He huffed. “Children. They can be so difficult sometimes.”

“I thought it was sweet of them,” Lacie said, leaning on the booth. “Anyway, what’ve you got to tell me, Bertie?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“They wouldn’t have brought you over here unless it was something.” Lacie leaned in closer. Bertram gulped, his heart beginning to pound.

“I, erm, I…” He stumbled over his words.

“Yes?”

“I’m…Rather fond of you…Miss Benton.” Bertram said slowly. “Fonder than I am of other people. I find you…tolerable.”

“I think that’s just about the nicest thing you’ve said to me.” Lacie grinned.

“You are…Are a nice person.” Bertram continued. “Far nicer than I believe I deserve. But I would be…very happy if you would, perhaps, go to…dinner with me sometime?” For a moment, Lacie just watched him with her head tilted. Then she leaned down, grabbed Bertram by the lapels, and kissed him. Bertram was rather surprised by this. But he had to admit, he was delighted. He’d been secretly hoping he’d get a kiss from Lacie. He knew it would be scandalous, someone of his standing pining after someone like Lacie, but he couldn’t help it. Lacie was just such an incredible woman. Suddenly, he realized he was leaning down in order to kiss Lacie. When he pulled away, he found himself returned to his human form.

“Huh,” Lacie said.

“You…How did you do that?” Bertram looked from his hands to Lacie and back again.

“I don’t know,” Lacie admitted. “It’s good to see your face, though.” Bertram couldn’t help but smile and kissed her again. He had a feeling this was going to be a good day.


	15. Chapter 15

....

“So explain to me what’s going on.” Stella asked firmly, sitting in a spare chair. “If he was just here for that, he should be gone by now. Why is he still here?”

“Murray says that Joey’s nephew is an empath, and I suppose that’s something powerful enough to attract the demon?” Henry asked, though Stella noted that there was a slight tone of disbelief in his voice.

“Depends on the empath themselves…” She said slowly. “Has he shown any magical qualities worth noting?” Henry shook his head.

“Not the few times we’ve met, unless being a genuine good kid is something suspicious.” Murray frowned.

“Mr. Ross, this is serious. Alistair-”

“Murray Hill, you told me that you got possessed by the demon that helped my only child move on to reunite with her mother.” Henry snapped in a dry tone. “And you had helped Joey create this mess, and maybe even showed him the bullshit that inspired his nonsense involving ‘Creators’ that led to my wife and child’s deaths. Forgive me for speculating, but I have a very hard time believing that this is just about Alistair being interested in Isaac for being an empath and not you wanting to get rid of your guilt for what you’ve done.” Murray looked like he wanted to argue, but sighed and looked away, avoiding the confused and concerned look from his sister as Henry turned to her. “What can be today with the least amount of problems?” Stella turned away slowly from her brother and adjusted her earrings nervously.

“Well…”

.

* * *

 

.

Alistair raised an eyebrow as he spotted Bertie kissing Lacie, now fully human and made a mildly surprised ‘huh’ sound.

“He actually had a true love...I’m actually mildly surprised.” Alistair mused before pursing his lips as he sensed a familiar aura enter the park. “Oh joy. The body block is here in the park, probably at her brother’s request…” He sighed in annoyance, rolling his eyes before he smirked mischievously. “If Hill wants to play this game, it doesn’t matter to me…” He paused as he sensed a flare-up of Henry’s magic, no doubt reflecting the man's current mood. “Hmm, it seems he stuck his foot in his mouth and Henry isn’t having any of it…” He chuckled darkly before beginning his way to the office, shaking his head. “Ah, Murray, Murray,Murray, you claim to have changed, but you still play with power you do not even begin to comprehend….and you still dive headfirst into things.”

.

* * *

 

.

Joshua yawned as he slumped against the wall in the break room, exhausted. His rabbit friend offered a smiled and motioned for the man to sleep, while the rabbit kept a watch. Joshua chuckled before nodding and closing his eyes, dozing off rather quickly. The rabbit nodded and sat in front of his friend, unaware of the petty demon that was watching from the rafters.

“Hmph.” It muttered to itself. “Boy’s got too many scents for me to try and possess ‘im directly, sides, he’s too much of a softie to be worth it…” The demon huffed. “However, I could do what I did with that snoop of a Projectionist...and maybe also get that bratty little girl...she’s got the goods to be actually useful; young, malleable...and her brother’s got talent, so she’s gotta have some too…” The demon sighed. “I hope this is worth it for the boss...” The demon seeped into the paint splattered on the wall before seeping down towards Joshua, making sure the rabbit was unaware while he kidnapped the man. The rabbit turned and saw Joshua missing and squeaked in concern, his ear momentarily separating from his head before he scurried out of the break room; he had to let the Creator know about this! He nearly ran over Joey and the two cartoonishly stumbled over each other. Esther winced slightly, but she couldn’t help but smile as Joey got up, helping the rabbit.

“Whoa there, fella, where’s the fire?” Joey asked, his smile falling as the rabbit panickingly waved his hands. Esther looked at her brother. “Something happened to Joshua?! Well, what are you waiting for?! We need to tell Henry!” He looked at his sister and smiled sheepishly. “I understand if you want to leave with your fam-”

“Oh like hell are you handling this by yourself. You barely can reach the doorknob, let alone stop anyone who is resorting to kidnapping. Let’s go.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this chapter does involve some kidnapping which might be disturbing

Joshua awoke in a room deep underground. At least, he was assuming it was deep underground. It was dark, damp, and smelled overpoweringly of ink. The walls were plastered with Bendy posters, some from the cartoons and some advertising attractions for the park. The young man wrinkled his nose, sitting up from where he’d been unceremoniously dumped. And it did seem as though he’d been dumped in this place. He was on what appeared to be an operating table, but it wasn’t as though he’d been laid out. He’d woken up in a heap, his clothes rumpled and hair wild. Groaning to himself, he hauled himself off of the operating table. He had a feeling this had something to do with Alistair. He had no proof, of course, but given that he seemed to have been kidnapped and dumped in what appeared to an old lab of Joey’s, he was willing to bet Alistair had decided to start fucking with him.

“Just my luck.” He muttered, lowering himself into the ankle-high sea of ink. It was rather hard to walk in ink. It was a lot thicker than water. He could feel it soaking into his socks and shoes. God, he was going to have to burn these later. The area outside of the room he’d woken up in turned out to be a labyrinth. Joshua remembered hearing about plans to open a maze in the park at one point. Apparently, it had been built, but Joey hadn’t been using it to turn a profit. It was honestly pretty creepy. There were projectors shoved in the corners, playing clips from various cartoons. Then, as he turned a corner, he was confronted by something rather horrifying. Joshua let out a shout and stumbled back. Crumpled on the ground in front of him was the corpse of something that looked a deformed copy of a member of the Butcher Gang, Edgar. Its appearance was bad enough, but on top of that was the fact that its chest had been ripped open.

“What the fuck?” Joshua whispered. He almost expected it would jump up and try to attack him, but it didn’t. It just sat there, staring at him with lifeless eyes. Joshua shook his head and started off again, hoping he didn’t see any more of those strange copies. Unfortunately, he did. As it turned out, Joey had created the other two members of the Butcher Gang as well. And they looked just as terrifying as Edgar had. Like Edgar, the other copies had their chests ripped open as well. Joshua was starting to get a sinking feeling that he wasn’t alone in this maze. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, every step, every drip from the ceiling, echoing in the eerie silence. He found himself rather wishing he had some sort of weapon. Nothing would make this situation better, but at least having a weapon would give him the possibility of surviving whatever fucked up creature Joey had forgotten to deal with.

“How big is this place?” Joshua muttered to himself, turning a corner. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been walking at this point. He paused for a moment, leaning against a wall to catch his breath. That was when he heard it. The sound of someone else moving in the hallways. Part of Joshua hoped it would be someone come to rescue him. But he knew it wasn’t. He looked around quickly, trying to find someplace to hide. He’d seen Little Miracle stations scattered about the maze, something that was normally used as a complaint box in the main park. He sloshed over, opening the door and ducking inside. There was even a little bench he could sit on inside the box.

“He better not have planned this.” Joshua gritted his teeth, peering out the slot in the door of the station. Something was drawing closer. As the creature walked into view, Joshua’s breath caught in his throat.

“Norman?”

The projector headed creature turned about at the sound of Joshua’s voice, trying to find its source. It still had the body of a human, but everything about its posture and actions was animalistic. Norman wasn’t there anymore. Joshua’s hands formed fists at his sides. They’d all wondered where Norman had gone. One day he’d been there, and the next he wasn’t. Joey had told them Norman had gone on vacation, and they’d all believed him.

“Damn you, Joey.” He took a step back from the door, trying to compose himself.

“Hey! Don’t go giving _him_ credit!”

Joshua almost fell out of the Miracle Station at the sudden voice. The Projectionist screeched, projector swiveling about as it tried to find where the voice had come from. A silhouette appeared on the wall where Tombstone Picnic was being played. It looked like a cartoonish depiction of an imp, complete with little horns and a tail. Joshua couldn’t help but stare.

“I’m assuming you work for Alistair, right?” He said slowly.

“Yeah, no shit.” The demon snorted, rolling his eyes. “And **I’m** the one who made that projectionist what he is now.” The Projectionist stared at the demon, the sound of his voice seemingly calming its feral nature.

“You must be so proud,” Joshua said dryly.

“I wouldn’t expect a _human_ to understand.” The way the demon said human made Joshua’s blood boil. It took everything he had not to burst out of the Miracle Station and try to deck the little bastard right there and then. Instead, he sat down and took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

The demon knew full well he’d probably screwed up in revealing himself to the boy the way he had. But he’d been so angry at having his work attributed to someone else. Sure, the design of the monstrous Projectionist had been Joey’s idea, but the demon had been the one to actually execute it! Joey Drew didn’t have a magical bone in his body. Speaking of Joey Drew…

“Stay here, fleshbag.” The demon said. “I’ve got some stuff I need to take care of.”

“And here I thought we were having a nice conversation,” Joshua replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice. 

“Keep an eye on him.” The demon gestured to the Projectionist, who made a vaguely affirmative noise and turned its gaze onto the Miracle Station. Satisfied with this, the demon returned to the park above. He needed to find Joey’s niece and see what he could do with her. Alistair wanted to deal with the boy himself. It took a bit of searching to find Rachel. She was with her brother and father, watching as Bertram and Lacie talked. The demon frowned from the shadows. He needed to find some way to separate her from the others. Luckily, he got his chance when she announced she was going to go get a brownie. Smirking to himself, the demon melted out of the shadows, taking the form of a little boy. He took a moment and conjured some fake tears before wandering pitifully over to the girl.

“M-Miss?” He tugged on her sleeve weakly. Rachel looked over, her expression immediately softening.

“Hey there.” She said. “What’s up?”

“C-Can you help me find my mom?” He asked, making sure his eyes were big and sad.

“Yeah, I think I can help with that.” Rachel nodded, starting to look around. “I think there’s a security office around here somewhere.”

The demon nodded earnestly. “Oh yeah! She s-said we needed to meet there!”

“Do you know where it is?” Rachel smiled a tad sheepishly. “I don’t know the layout of this place too well.”

“Um…I think I know the way.” The demon started playing with the hem of his shirt. “But…Could you come with me? I don’t wanna go alone.”

“Sure.” Rachel held out her hand. The demon gave her a big smile and took it, leading her away. Not in the direction of the security office, of course, but to Joey’s abandoned lab and Joshua. It didn’t take long for Rachel to figure out what was going on, though.

“Uh, kid? I don’t think this is the way we need to go.” She said slowly, starting to dig in her heels. She didn’t recognize this part of the park and there weren’t a lot of people around.

“What are you talking about? Of course this is the way.” The demon said brightly.

“No, it’s not.” A note of panic entered Rachel’s voice.

“Well, it might not be the way to the security office,” the demon said with a dark chuckle. “But it was the way I needed to go to get you alone.” Before Rachel had a chance to scream, the demon had a hand over her mouth and they both disappeared into the shadows. For a moment, fear lanced through Rachel with icy clarity. She’d thought she was about to get kidnapped and sold or something. But that fear was quickly replaced by anger. By the time the two of them were spat out into the lab, Rachel was kicking, screaming, biting, and generally fighting the demon.

“Yeesh, kid!” The demon dropped her into the ink and dusted himself off. “What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem? WHAT’S MY PROBLEM?!” Rachel yelled, pulling herself up from the ink. “You’re my problem! You and my fucking uncle! You work for him, don’t you?!” The demon made what could only be described as a gagging sound. It was hard to tell because he had taken on the appearance of a vaguely humanoid being made entirely of shadow with no visible mouth or eyes.

“No, I don’t work for him.” He said. “I did some work _for_ him, but I don’t answer to him. Not even close.”

“If you don’t work for him…Then why did you kidnap me?” She’d been so certain that her uncle’s repentance had been nothing but a lie, and he was trying to get rid of her.

“I’m here to make you a proposition, kiddo.” The shadow on the demon’s face split, revealing a smiling mouth full of sharp teeth. “See, the people I work for can give you all the power you’ve ever wanted. You can right all the wrongs in the world. You can expose your uncle for the monster he is.” Rachel stared at him for a moment, her expression blank.

“You’re kidding, right?”

The demon’s smile faltered. “What? No.”

“Okay.” Rachel’s gaze sharpened. “Then how stupid do you think I am?”

“Excuse me?”

“How. Stupid. Do. You. Think. I. Am?” Rachel sloshed over, jabbing her finger into the demon’s chest. “I saw what messing with this kind of stuff got my uncle. You really think I’m going to make the same mistake he did? There’s obviously going to be some kind of catch!” The demon took a step back, looking almost irritated. Then he sighed.

“Alright, so I guess we’re doing this the hard way.”

 

Alistair strolled up to the office, whistling to himself. It always delighted him to see humans messing things up on their own. Technically speaking, he hadn’t done a damn thing to make this situation worse. That had all been Murray’s doing. He’d gotten himself into this and if he wanted to get out of it, he’d have to take responsibility for his actions. However, when he opened the door, he found the office in a state of chaos. He couldn’t help but feel a bit put out. He’d hoped to have a big dramatic entrance and start some big argument. Unfortunately for him, no one had even noticed he’d entered. Currently, Henry was engaged in a shouting match with Stella, who seemed to be defending her brother. Murray was seated at Joey’s desk, head in his hands, rocking back and forth. Joey was calming down a small rabbit toon while Esther was trying to get Stella and Henry to stop yelling at each other. Alistair stood in the doorway for a moment or two, arms folded, hoping that someone would notice he was there. No one did. Finally, sighing, he stepped in and loudly shut the door. Everyone stopped yelling to look at him.

“Thank you.” Alistair’s smile did seem rather forced. “I’ve been standing here for ages.”

“Oh, woe is you.” Stella sneered.

“What do you want?” Esther asked, giving him her best disapproving mom look.

“Well, I was hoping to have a big dramatic entrance, maybe start an argument-”

“Look, we’re not really in the mood for the flowery language.” Joey cut him off. “So, please, tell us why you’re here.”

“You’re taking all the fun out of it.” Alistair sounded rather like a petulant child.

“My son is missing.” Henry turned to him very slowly, a dangerous look in his eyes. “I don’t have time for this bullshit. What do you want?”

“Joshua is missing?”

“Like you didn’t know about it.” Stella snapped. “One of your lackeys probably took him because you told them to.”

“Much as I would like to claim responsibility for this, I legitimately had no idea this had happened.” Alistair brushed her off, walking over to the little rabbit toon and kneeling down. “Could you tell me what happened, little one?” The rabbit went through a series of pantomimes, still obviously very panicked. Alistair watched, nodding every so often.

“Interesting.” Alistair stood up, dusting his pants off. “Well, I can tell you where your son will probably be, Mister Ross.”

“Where? Where is he?” Henry grabbed Alistair by the lapels. Alistair smiled and looked over at Joey and Murray.

“You want to clean your mess up, don’t you, Murray?” Alistair asked. “Here’s your chance.”

“My good man, that answers absolutely none of our questions,” Joey said through gritted teeth. “Where is Joshua? Small words, please.”

“Does the name Norman Polk ring any bells?”

“Norman?” Henry asked, letting go of Alistair. “What does he have to do with any of this?” All of a sudden, both Joey and Murray looked incredibly guilty. Esther just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“We’ll explain later,” Murray mumbled, quickly getting up and heading for the door. “Joey, come on.” Joey nodded and followed.

“Like Hell you’re doing this alone!” Stella grabbed her brother by the wrist. “I’m coming with you!”

“…Kay.”  Murray avoided looking her in the eye.

“Esther, you might want to stay here.” Joey looked at his sister. “This is going to get dangerous.”

“I’ll go find Robert and the kids,” Esther said. “But you better still be in one piece when you get back, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Joey smiled weakly. The door opened and most of the people in the room left, leaving Henry alone with Alistair.

“You might want to get comfortable.” Alistair walked over and settled down at Joey’s desk, propping his feet up on the desk. “We might be here for a bit.” Henry stayed standing, starting to pace the length of the room.

“Or you can stand. That’s fine too.”

For a few minutes, the only sound in the office was that of Henry’s pacing and the chatter of the park guests outside. Then Henry stopped and turned to face the demon seated at his best friend’s desk.

“Where did Murray learn about Creators?” He asked.

“I may have mentioned it in passing while Murray and I were bonded.” Alistair examined his nails. “I heard about it from a boss of mine. He tends to do quite a bit of dimensional travel because of his girlfriend. I don’t know where he learned about it, but he found it quite fascinating. As did I.”

“You probably didn’t think he’d use that information, right?”

“Right.” Alistair looked at the door. Now to see if Murray would actually manage to redeem himself.


	17. Chapter 17

…

_ “Hey Linda?” _

_ “Yeah Joshy?” _

_ “Mr. Drew’s new friend, you know...the guy that’s supposed to be helping your dad and him? He is...he’s kinda weird…” _

_ “Mr. Hill? Yeah, I know, he’s really weird...Daddy said he’s just ‘eccentric’ but Momma says that’s just a fancy way of saying he’s crazy and he’s got money.” The little boy nodded. “Hey, has he been asking you about something regarding Creators too?” He made a face. “Yeah, he kept asking me if I knew, and I told him that my Daddy ‘created’ the Bendy shorts so he had to be a creator, and he got all huffy! What a weird guy.” _

_ “Yeah...really weird….He asked me about that too...but then Mr. Drew said he and him had a meeting and he never brought it up again...” Linda scoffed. _

_ “Adults are weird. Let’s never be adults, ok?”  _

_ “Um...ok, sure!” _

.

* * *

 

.

“What’s going on?” Stella demanded. “Who’s Norman and what does he have to do with this?” Murray refused to look at her and Joey sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Norman is the Projectionist…” He explained. “He’s uh...we uh...look, he likes to poke his nose into things…and you couldn’t really have what we’ve done out in the public; I’ve got an image after all...” Stella stared at Joey in horror.

“You  _ killed _ him?” 

“What? No! No, no, no...not per say...let’s just say he’s not exactly…” Murray opened the door to what appeared to be a storage office building. “Reasonable at the moment?” Joey offered a cheeky, albeit sheepish, grin. Stella didn’t look impressed as Murray stepped into the ink

“Let’s just get to the lab.” Murray said simply. “It’s a good place to start at least.” Stella stared at her brother, wondering what happened after his exorcism that led him down this path in the first place.

.

* * *

 

.

Joshua sighed as he shielded his eyes against the glare of the projector’s light.

“I’m still in here, yeesh…” He muttered. “You can stop trying to blind my ass.” The projector whirred angrily and Joshua sighed, past the point of giving a damn. “I know I know, ‘Grr rawr angry belittling comments.” The creature blinked slowly, as if confused before it screeched as Joshua covered his ears, wincing before the creature went back to guarding. Joshua let out a weak groan; Henry surely had noticed he hadn’t gone back from his break, right? Maybe the man was looking for him now? Or maybe he was up the creek without the paddle. He sighed softly, rubbing his eyes and trying to push back tears, becoming overwhelmed beyond belief; he was lied to about his close friend’s death, he witnessed her father-figure forcibly turn a man into a sentient pile of ink, demons were real, he gotten beaten up by a curmudgeon-who got the ink transformation treatment too, and now he was stuck with what was Norman; this was not what he had signed up for when Joey had offered him a job when the parlour had burnt down. “Heh, maybe Joey set the fire in the first place to get to Henry...it’s always about him or Joey anyways…” Joshua laughed bitterly before there was sloshing nearby. “What the-?”

“GET BACK HERE PUNK!” The demon’s voice echoed through the halls and there was panting. Joshua looked through the small slot and saw a small figure struggling to run quickly through the ink. He took a look at the creature before silently apologizing to Norman as he slammed the door of the Miracle Station open and into the creature, motioning for the figure to hurry, while the creature stumbled back.

“Over here!!”

.

* * *

 

.

Henry sighed as he slumped into a chair, sighing as Alistair looked at the man.

“Finally deciding that it’s time to rest?” Henry ignored him and wiped his face.

“It doesn’t make any sense….” He whispered softly. “Why would Joey do any of this? He would never hurt anyone...he just wanted to be recognized….and I thought he loved it when Joshua and Linda would visit the studio…sure he butted heads with Maria sometimes, but he still enjoyed her bringing the kids….How could I not see this coming?” Alistair sighed.

“Henry,” He sighed softly, trying to figure out the best way to comfort the mortal man. Thankfully, Esther slammed the door open, a maternal fury Alistair rarely saw in her eyes.

“You.” She stared at Alistair. “You take me to where my daughter is.  _ NOW _ .” Alistair looked confused for a moment before seeing the look of concern and slight terror on Isaac’s face; something definitely happened to the hard-headed young lady and the boy had seemed to have sensed it. Alistair adjusted his coat jacket as he stood as Henry stood as well.

“Let’s waste no time then.”


	18. Chapter 18

Joey had never meant for any of this to happen. He knew full well that there was no way to excuse all that he’d done, but he truly hadn’t intended for things to get this bad. Henry had been right, he had enjoyed when Linda and Joshua had visited the studio. And while he might not have always enjoyed being around Maria, he had a certain respect for her. But at the same time…He’d been jealous. Henry was so happy with his family, his loving wife and adorable daughter. Joey wanted that. He’d cut ties with his actual family and in his mind, there was no going back from that, despite the fact that Esther still contacted him from time to time to tell him that their parents missed him. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t have some romantic feelings for Henry. Not to the point that he wanted to get rid of Linda and Maria, of course, but just…He’d wanted to be a part of Henry’s family. But he’d tried to push those feelings aside. They had cartoons to make. He and Henry were going places. They were going to be famous. Deep down, he knew that just pushing his feelings down wouldn’t do any good, but it was how he tended to deal with everything. Just pretend nothing was wrong and keep going. Of course, he couldn’t do this forever. And one day, it all exploded. It was shortly after he’d hired on Murray Hill. He’d been having a particularly bad day and Murray had come to inform him of some issue, he couldn’t remember what it had been, and it had all come spilling out. He’d just started crying, bawling for a good few minutes before he managed to regain his composure. When Murray had asked what had Joey so upset, he’d panicked a bit. He liked Murray, but he didn’t want to admit to the man that he was jealous of Henry and his family. So, he…bent the truth a bit. He said he was worried the cartoons wouldn’t get off the ground. It wasn’t a lie. It _was_ something he was worried about. But it wasn’t why he’d started crying. Murray had gotten a strange look in his eyes, something almost inhuman, and had told Joey about Creators.

As the younger man spoke, Joey’s jealousy began to ebb away. He knew he was a man of ideas, and ideas alone, so he wasn’t a viable candidate to become a Creator. But Henry…Henry had the ability to create, to bring the fictional to life. Immediately, Joey’s ambition took full control. If he could make Henry a Creator, then their names would be forever etched into the annals of history. They would be remembered for all time. He hadn’t thought about what the consequences of his actions might be. The ends justified the means, as they said. Esther had always lectured him about that. He never thought things through. He just plunged forward, never considering what might happen to other people because of what he did. Only now that it had all come crumbling down around him did he realize what a monster he’d become.

As he, Murray, and Stella waded through the ink to the lab, he glanced at Stella. She hadn’t said much since they’d entered the tunnels. Murray had mentioned once that he had a sister, but he’d refused to say any more on the subject. Joey hadn’t pushed him since he didn’t like talking about his family either.

“So, uh, you guys are magic, huh?” He said.

“Yeah. We are.” Stella nodded.

“That must be pretty cool. Having magic.”

“Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. Magic can have repercussions.” She looked deliberately at Murray, who tensed up. He hunched his shoulders, continuing forward. Stella sighed and shook her head. Joey gritted his teeth. Well, this was going to be awkward. They continued on in silence for a little longer before Stella spoke again.

“So, whose idea was it to kill Henry’s wife and kid?” There was an edge to her voice, which only made Murray hunch more.

“It was…a collaborative effort.” Joey said. He didn’t remember who had proposed the idea of killing Maria and Linda in order to make Henry a Creator. Or maybe he just didn’t want to face the reality that it might have been him.

“That’s great to hear.” Stella scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“You really shouldn’t blame him.” Joey forced himself to smile. “I’m the one who set this all in motion. I did most of this myself. I’m the terrible person here. I-”

“But **he** was the one who put the idea in your head!” Stella shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. “He helped you do this! All of it! He held your hand as you both marched into Hell!” Murray said nothing, which almost seemed to make the situation worse.

“Do you really have nothing to say?!” Stella demanded, grabbing her brother by the shoulder and spinning him around.

“What do you want me to say?!” Murray spat back. “No explanation is ever going to be good enough to explain this! Nothing I say can ever make it better! I messed up!” Joey shrunk back a bit at the yelling. He’d never particularly liked being in the middle of arguments.

“I’d like to at least know what you were thinking! Why did you think this was a good idea?!”

“I wanted someone to be proud of me for once in my life!”

Everyone immediately went quiet. The only sound around them was the quiet sloshing of the ink. Joey lowered his gaze. He certainly knew what that felt like.

“You think they weren’t proud of you?” Stella finally asked. “You think Mom and Dad weren’t proud of everything you did before you joined that stupid cult?” Her hands had formed fists at her sides, her body beginning to shake.

“They…Were they?” Murray’s voice wavered.

“Do you have any idea how many times I had to hear them go on and on about how great you are?!” Stella stamped her foot. “It was always, “Murray got this spell on his first try” or “At your age, Murray was doing much more advanced spells”. It was a nightmare! No matter what I did I could never be as good as you! They were even impressed when you got **possessed**!”

“They were?”

“YES!” Stella threw her hands up. “I had to listen to them talk about how amazing it was that you’d actually managed to contract a demon! Especially one so “eloquent”.” She put air quotes around the word eloquent, voice dripping with disdain. “I’m the youngest person to successfully perform an exorcism in nearly a century and the only thing they could talk about was you!” She looked on the verge of tears now. “So don’t tell me they weren’t proud of you.”

For a few moments, they all just stood in silence while Stella sniffled and wiped away her tears.

“We should keep moving.” She finally said. The two men nodded, following her into the depths of the tunnels.

.

.

Rachel scrambled into the Miracle Station as Joshua slammed the door behind her. She was out of breath but grinning at the fact that she’d managed to outrun the demon. She’d sure shown him!

“What the Hell are you doing down here?” Her stomach dropped a little bit.

“Um…Hi, Mr. Foster.” She smiled sheepishly. She honestly wasn’t sure what the etiquette regarding him was. He was older than her by at least ten years, but he was younger than her mother and most of the others she’d met.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, folding his arms. Damn, he really had the fatherly disappointment look down pat. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but she definitely felt very guilty.

“I got kidnapped by a demon.”

“Oh.” The look of disappointment quickly turned to irritation, directed not at her but at the demon who was now right outside the door.

“You little shit! Get back here!” The demon screeched.

“Yes, because I’m definitely going to go out there and go near the projector monster.” Rachel rolled her eyes. Suddenly her eyes widened and she looked over at Joshua. “Did it…did he used to be a person?”

“Yep.”

“…Did Uncle Joey do that to him?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” Her face fell and she started to play with her skirt.

“Don’t give _him_ full credit!” The demon yelled. “I was the one who did all the work! That bastard may have come up with the design, but I transformed Polk! **Me**!”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Rachel sat down on the bench in the back of the Miracle Station.

“Goodness, I leave you alone for five minutes and this is what happens.” Rachel’s head snapped up at the familiar voice and Joshua peered out through the slit in the door. Standing right next to Norman were Henry, Alistair, and Esther.

“They’re in there.” Alistair waved towards the Miracle station while keeping his eyes on his subordinate. Henry and Esther immediately ran over. Joshua pushed open the door, allowing Rachel to run out and into her mother’s arms. Henry swept Joshua up in a hug as well. The Projectionist seemed to have been rendered in capacitated as soon as Alistair had arrived, so that wasn’t a real problem.

“B-Boss.” The demon stammered. “W-What are you doing here?”

“I believe I told you not to act without my supervision.” Alistair smiled calmly. “We’re not here to cause trouble. We’re not imps.”

“I-I know, but-”

“I didn’t even call you here.” Alistair continued. “Why are you here in the first place?”

“I called him.” Everyone turned to see Murray, Joey and Stella entered the flooded maze. Stella looked like she’d been crying, Joey looked uncomfortable, and Murray just seemed tired.

“Oh, Murray.” Alistair sighed. “You just can’t seem to stop getting yourself into trouble, can you?”

“Not in the mood,” Murray said flatly.

“Esther? Why are you and Rachel down here?” Joey peered past Murray’s legs. “And how did you get down here before us?”

“He teleported us down here.” Esther glanced back to Alistair.

“I got kidnapped by a demon.” Rachel still had her face buried in her mother’s stomach, clinging to her. What happened had really just hit her. Esther quickly returned to soothing her daughter, stroking her hair and quietly assuring her that it was going to be alright.

“Why you-” Joey rolled up his sleeves, or went through the motions, and advanced on the demon. Alistair held up his hand, halting the little demon.

“Rest assured, he will be punished for this.” He said. Although, the humans got the feeling the demon wasn’t really going to be punished **because** of what he’d done, but because he’d acted without thinking and without Alistair’s approval.

“But boss-” The demon started to say, but one look from Alistair silenced him.

“We will speak about this.” He said before turning to the assembled humans. “My deepest apologies. I’ll do my best to remedy this situation.” He waved a hand and they were all deposited back in Joey’s office, along with a human Norman. Joey smiled nervously at the projectionist.

“Mr. Polk, I-”

“Save it.” Norman picked himself off the floor, leveling Joey and Murray with a cool glare. “I quit.” He then gave Joey the finger and stormed out.

“Well, he didn’t try to kill me.” Joey laughed weakly. “So that’s a success.”

Down in the tunnels, Alistair returned his attention to the demon before him. The demon cowered before him, his eyes wide.

“You acted without thinking,” Alistair said, his eyes black and red once more. “You stirred up unnecessary trouble and made the humans upset and distrustful.”

“I-I thought you’d want to do something with them.” The demon stammered. “That’s what you’re here for, right? T-To get souls?”

“I’m here because Murray’s driving himself off a cliff and I want to be here when he finally goes too far. The only soul I’m **actually** interested in is his.” Alistair pinched the bridge of his nose. “Maybe Drew’s if he proves to be unrepentant.” The demon blinked.

“That’s…That’s it? You’re just interested in Murray Hill?”

“That’s it.”

“But…But…” The demon’s mouth gaped open. “You’re a high-ranking demon! You’re supposed to be ambitious and eager to steal souls, right?” Alistair watched him, his expression unreadable. The demon balked a bit at this.

“I’m not all that high-ranking.” Alistair finally said, shrugging. “But that’s beside the point. It doesn’t matter what I’m ‘supposed’ to be. All that matters is what I am and what allows me to survive in Hell. You are in no position to tell me who I should be. You work for me.” He picked the demon up by the scruff of his neck, bringing him close so that their faces were mere inches apart. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” The demon squeaked.

“Good.” Alistair smiled and dropped the demon. “Now leave. Go back to Hell. I’ll deal with you later.”

The demon hunched his shoulders. “Yes, sir.”

Then Alistair was alone in the tunnels. He sighed, brushing some nonexistent ink off of his jacket. New demons were always so troublesome. They all had this fictionalized version of what Hell and demons were supposed to be like. He wondered vaguely if Heaven ever had this problem. Ah, well, that didn’t matter right now. He had to get back and make sure none of them had killed each other yet. He laughed a little to himself at the thought of the events that had transpired. All that work put into making a Creator and there was already one under their noses. That Foster boy really had some talent to him. He smiled and disappeared, leaving the tunnels silent.


	19. Chapter 19

....

“Joshua?” Cordelia asked softly as she saw her boyfriend stagger in and plop onto the couch face down. She sighed and rubbed his back. “That great of a day, huh?”

“I got kidnapped by a demon and saw what happened to Norman.” Joshua mumbled into the couch. Cordelia opened her mouth to ask. “He’s better now.” She nodded slowly before pecking him on the cheek.

“You relax and I’ll get dinner ready.” Joshua made what might have been an argument, but the way his body seemed to visibly relax more gave her the answer. She smiled and let him relax on the couch.

.

* * *

 

.

_ “Daddy! You have to see what Joshy did!” Henry looked up from his paperwork as his daughter dragged the very embarrassed looking boy towards him. “It was so cool!!” _

_ “I’m sure it was Linda Lou, but I’m a little busy here...maybe later? Or how about when Joshy’s dad is here to pick him up you can show us both, ok?” Linda looked unimpressed with the idea as Joshua was red in embarrassment. _

_ “Daaaady….”  _

_ “Liiiiinda,” Henry teased back.  _

_ “Daddy!”  _

_ “I can do this all day, Linda Lou.” _

_ “S-So can I!” _

_ “Well then I suppose Joshua and I will be the only ones eating the cookies I just finished up.” Henry and Linda looked at Maria who was leaning against the door jam with a smile on her face. “Since you two can do that all day.” _

_ “Mooooom!!” _

.

* * *

 

.

Murray was silent as he watched Henry walk Joshua and Esther and her family to out of the office, Joey’s sister promising to walk the man to his vehicle, despite the fact Joshua said he was fine. He noted that a few of the ink bottles seemed to boiling as Henry and Joshua walked past them, but he guessed it had to be because of the older man’s magic. Or Isaac’s own magic, but the boy was fast asleep in his father’s arms when they had left.

“Did you see it?” Joey looked up at Murray.

“See what?” Joey asked in irritation. Murray opened his mouth to argue but Henry shutting the door harshly shut the two up before it started as Stella sighed.

“I am this close to losing it with the two of you.” He said sternly. “Is there anything else you’ve forgotten to mention? Any other coworkers of ours that you messed with?” Joey paused for a moment before shaking his head.

“No Henry...there’s nobody else. I swear!” Joey said. “Norman and Susie were the only ones! S-Sammy and Wally were on the fly kinda things…” The demon toon chuckled sheepishly as Henry looked at Murray as if to ask for confirmation that there weren’t going to be anymore surprises. Stella sighed in irritation as Alistair reappeared in the office.

“I suppose the boy has gone home, and your sister and her family?” Henry nodded.

“Yeah, they’ve headed home.” He explained tiredly. “It’s been a day already….”

“Then you should-”

“And trust you won’t do something ridiculously stupid or kill someone?!” Murray winced at how harsh Henry was as the man in question wiped his face and sighed. “Murray...I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” 

“I don’t know, I find it was rather deserved for him.” Alistair remarked. “Considering the fact he summoned one of my underlings without  _ my _ permission.” He glared at the man as Stella glared at him in turn. “Are you going to elaborate on why you did that or are we going to keep pretending you’re an honorable ma-”

“For the love of God please don’t start.” Henry muttered into his hands as he slumped into his seat. Alistair rolled his eyes.

“ _ Fine _ . Whatever.” He retorted before looking at Murray with a bemused playful look. “You’re still no closer to a Creator than before you roped a man into 2 counts of manslaughter.” Murray’s eyes widened as both Joey and Henry looked at Allistair, who feigned innocence, as if he didn’t plan to drop that bombshell. Stella glared at the demon as she stood.

“You better start explaining things.  _ Now _ .”

.

* * *

 

.

_ “Joshua? What on Earth are you doing here by yourself?” Joey chuckled softly as he saw the boy before realizing the boy was cowering in fear of something. “Whoa, what’s wrong? Joshua?” The boy trembled before all but leaping into the man’s arms and holding him tightly. Joey’s mind went blank for several moments, clearly not expecting this from the friend of Henry’s daughter, or from anyone in all honesty before he managed to compose himself as he patted the boy’s back. “Easy there...nobody’s gonna get you in the studio…” The boy whimpered something and Joey chuckled softly. “I guess Henry was right that I got to get a few more lamps in this place…” The boy looked up at him. “The shadows are rather imposing when there’s nothing else around…” The boy rubbed his nose. _

_ “Seemed really real to me…and I heard ‘em too…” Joey had no idea what the boy meant by that in all honesty. _

_ “That might be more the recording stuff downstairs.” Joey offered as an explanation. “After all, the floors are pretty thin here…” The boy didn’t seem convinced and Joey forced a smile. “And don’t tell Henry, but Wally’s been keeping kittens in the recording booth and they’re awfully chatty.” The boy’s eyes widened in awe. _

_ “R-Really?” _

_ “Of course! Come on, we can go find Linda and I’m sure Wally wouldn’t mind you two seeing them.” Joey helped the boy up, who excitedly went to go find Linda and Joey shook his head chuckling. “Ya still got it with the kids,” He mused playfully as he got up to leave, pausing only when he heard Bendy’s whistling. He quickly scanned the area before shaking his head as the noise stopped. “Ok...note to self; talk to Henry about….the flooring...” _

.

* * *

 

.

“This is good Dee…” Joshua mumbled in between bites of his food. Dee blushed.

“Joshy...you can be honest...I won’t be offended.” She argued and Joshua made a face.

“I am being honest.” He said before pecked her on the cheek. Roy rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Get a room you two.” He snarked, earning a blush from his sister and a strawberry blown in his direction. He smirked as he took a bite of food.

“So that means you’re finally going to ask Chris or Nancy on a date tonight?” Roy gagged as he coughed, trying to collect himself as Joshua lost it, laughing as Cordelia was stifling her own giggles. After a few moments Roy managed to collect some of his dignity back as he glared at Joshua who beamed. “You walked into that one.”

“Can it Foster.”


	20. Chapter 20

All of this [Creator](http://disneyphantomlover.tumblr.com/post/170655048654/how-does-one-become-a-creator-why-is-it-so) stuff comes from [Disneyphantomlover](http://disneyphantomlover.tumblr.com/).

* * *

 

Stella took Murray back to his apartment, insisting that she was going to be staying for a little while. He knew her insistence upon staying was because of the fact that he’d coerced a man into manslaughter and had summoned multiple demons. He knew this, but he couldn’t help but be a little peeved by his sister’s intrusion. He’d been living on his own for quite a while now and didn’t appreciate being treated like a child. Even if her concern was completely justified. Thankfully, she didn’t try to sleep in the same room with him, although they had shared a room when they’d been young, so Murray was allowed to sleep alone in his bedroom. He laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling of his room. How had he managed to fall so far? He’d been a good person, once, hadn’t he? Staring up at the ceiling, he began to cry quietly. It had been a mistake. All of it. Even Alistair didn’t seem to entirely understand how Creators worked and Murray had thought he could manage to create one. He was such an idiot.

“Now now, why are you crying?” He sat up abruptly at hearing Alistair’s voice. The demon was seated at the foot of his bed, smiling sweetly.

“Go away., Murray said, laying back down and pulling the covers over his head. “I’m not in the mood right now.” He felt a weight settle beside him, fingers beginning to card through his hair.

“I’m not here to torture you, darling.” Alistair’s voice was soft.

“You’re always here to torture me.” Murray said.

Alistair sighed dramatically, continuing to stroke Murray’s hair. “I’m here to give you information. About Creators. I thought you’d want at least a little clarification about what you’ve been searching for.”

This gave Murray pause, and he eventually rolled over to face the demon. Alistair smiled sweetly, cupping Murray’s face in his hands. He ran his thumb over Murray’s cheek.

“Well, for starters, Creators are generally born Creators.” He began. “Their brains work differently than other people’s. They experience the world differently because of their abilities. It has something to do with their brain chemistry, apparently. They have the ability to create art out of nothing but their imagination and parts of themselves.”

“So…One can’t just make a Creator.” Murray said, lowering his gaze.

“It’s extremely difficult.” Alistair corrected him. “So, I would advise against continuing it.”

“…Alright.” Murray nodded. He looked so defeated.

Alistair sighed, resting his forehead against Murray’s. “What am I going to do with you, Murray Hill?”

“Why are you staying with me?” Murray asked, closing his eyes. “You have some ulterior motive, right?”

“Everyone has an ulterior motive for everything.” Alistair laughed.

“You’re being a smartass.”

“I am.”

Murray sighed heavily, pushing him away a little. “I’m not in the mood to deal with you being a smartass.”

“My apologies, then.” Alistair kissed his forehead. “But you should know, I do genuinely care about you.” Not in the way a normal human would care about another human, but he cared all the same.

“You’ve told me that before.” Murray replied sullenly. “But then you only ever show up when I’m in a bad situation, like you want to feed on my bad luck.”

“I’m not the kind of demon who feeds on energy.” Alistair seemed almost a little offended. “I eat food, like a normal person.” That food was occasionally humans, but that wasn’t really something that Murray currently needed to be aware of. Murray already had a dim view of him.

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Murray rolled his eyes.

“In any case, I **do** care about you.” Alistair reiterated, kissing Murray’s forehead. “And I think I’m going to stick around here for a little a little bit.”

“Great. You can witness my humiliation.” Murray said, although he did sound the tiniest bit hopeful at the prospect of Alistair staying close. This made the demon smile.

“I suppose I should be going then.” He got up, dusting his clothing off. “You probably you’re your beauty sleep.” Murray stared at him as he opened a portal in the middle of the room.

“Will you come back?” He asked, his voice small. Alistair turned back to look at him, a tender smile on his face.

“Of course.” Then he stepped through the portal and vanished. Murray laid back down, pulling the covers over his head to try and get some sleep.

Meanwhile, Alistair stepped out of the portal in front of a small house in the suburbs. He could feel the magic coming from inside, which told him he was in the right place. If he was being honest, he was curious about what a Creator was like. The boy was probably too smart to ever make a deal with him, but he definitely wanted to know Joshua Foster a little better. Smiling to himself, he walked up and knocked on the door. There was the sound of a brief conversation before footsteps approached and the door was opened.

“It’s late. What do you want?” Roy asked, glowering down at the man standing on the doorstep.

“Hello, I was wondering if Joshua Foster is home.” Alistair said brightly. Immediately, Roy was on edge. There was something off about this man. Not only was the man eerily chipper, he had a strange aura to him.

“Why do you want to see him?”

“Well, we met at Drew World today and since it was such a hectic day, I wanted to come by and see how he was doing.” Alistair stuck out his hand. “I’m Alistair, by the way. Alistair Ainsley.” Roy looked incredulously down at the offered hand, then back up at Alistair.

“He’s busy. Come back tomorrow.” He said, starting to close the door.

“I can see him on the couch.” Alistair peered past him. “He’s literally right there.”

“He’s busy.” Roy reiterated, shutting the door.

“Who was that?” Cordelia asked as Roy returned to sit next to her on the couch.

“A weird man who was looking for Joshua.” Roy replied. “I told him he was busy.”

“Define weird.” Joshua said. He had a sinking feeling he knew exactly who Roy was talking about and was praying that he was wrong.

“He seemed weird. And he said he met you at Drew World.”

“What’s his name?” Joshua tried to stifle a groan.

“Alistair something or other.”

Joshua slumped back on the couch, groaning loudly and covering his face with his hands. Great. The demon had followed him home.

“What’s wrong? What did he do?” Cordelia asked, immediately shifting into ‘fight’ mode.

“He’s some demon Murray knows.” Joshua explained, getting up. “I mean, he’s basically fixed everything that’s happened at the park, but he’s a **demon**.”

“Maybe he left.” Cordelia got up and peeked out the window. Unfortunately, Alistair was still standing on the doorstep. He noticed her peeking through the curtains and waved, smiling disarmingly.

“He’s still there.” She said, quickly withdrawing.

“I don’t want to let him in the house.” Joshua grumbled.

“Well, it _would_ be rude to just leave him out there.” Cordelia chewed on her lip.

“Cordelia, I love you, but you are too nice for your own good.” Roy begrudgingly got up to put his arms around his sister. “You would be eaten alive by a demon.”

“Joshy said this guy’s basically fixed every problem at Drew World!” Cordelia said indignantly. “So, letting him in shouldn’t be too bad!”

“He’s still a demon. We need to be careful.” Joshua headed for the door. If he had to go confront Alistair, then he was going to do it. But he wasn’t going to like it. He opened the door, looking rather bemused. Alistair grinned.

“How is my favorite Creator doing?”

There was a beat of silence as everyone in the room stared at the demon.

“Excuse me?”


	21. Chapter 21

...

Joshua blinked slowly before turning to Roy.

“I thought you said he wanted to see me.” Alistair chuckled, especially at the look Roy gave him.

“I am, Joshua,”

“But Henry’s that Creat…” Joshua started to say, but as he looked at Alistair, he knew that his father figure wasn’t what Murray or Joey had been looking for apparently. Joshua just sighed in defeat. “There’s something Joey forgot to tell us?”

“Ah, hardly, Joshua,” Alistair said as he was let in. “Henry and Joey are not Creators; magically inclined, yes, but Creators? Nope.”

“But Henry turned Joey into Bendy….” Cordelia said slowly. “Me and Joshy saw that...we saw Henry summon the toons when we found Joey…”

“It appeared so,and perhaps Henry was able to direct and control the outpour of energy, but all magic was more than likely from you, Joshua.” Alistair gestured to Joshua, who was dumbfounded. Roy on the other hand, not so much.

“You’re saying that he can summon shit like Harry fucking Potter? He’s a tattoo artist.” Alistair chuckled.

“Not quite. And no self respecting wizard or witch would be caught dead acting like those characters.” Alistair snickered at the mental image as Joshua slumped onto the couch, wiping a hand with his face. “From what I’ve gathered Creators create using only their imagination and parts of themselves.” Cordelia’s reaction was priceless as Alistair quickly added. “It’s nothing drastic, Ms. Bell, I assure you of that. Joshua is fine when he’s using his talent.”

“You sure?” Roy asked, his voice not even trying to hide the sarcasm, earning him a lidded look from the demon. Cordelia wringing her hands nervously.

“He was born a Creator, Joey and Murray did nothing to him; creating Creators are pretty impossible to do correctly.” Alistair looked at Joshua, who seemed to be shaking slightly, and frowned. “Joshua?”  The boy let out a weak whimper and Alistair exchanged looks with the Bell siblings before coming closer. “Joshua?” He asked softly, putting a hand on the boy, who clearly was fighting back tears and sinking back to an old memory. Alistair frowned as he sensed the magic reacting to the boy’s stress. “Joshua, you need to-”

 

“ **_L̶͖͕̥̯͐̏ͤ-̴̪̖̌̅ͪ̇̈̌ͤ̄L̨̘͕̯͈̘̠͈̙͂̂̑ͤ̐͐̅̾E̻͓͍̲̳͕͍͖̞ͦͫ̓͆ͦͮA͂̔̇͆ͮ̅͏͖̼̠̱̻͉͉V̜̗͔͙̺̥̱̋̕E̥̮͉͑̎̇̔̒͆̐ ̢̟͕̝͎͔̰̪̆̎̎͋͛̚M̫̫̟͉͉͓ͬ̂E̴̖̥̬̻̤̝̥̪ͬ͒̅ͣ͠ͅ ̥̬̙̙͔ͪ̌Ȧ͛҉̛̥L̸̗͕̣̠̗̏̾̉̃̈́̒ͦ͜͡O̪̞̹͔͚̦̝̣͕̍̕͟Ň̄́̉̊̄̎ͭ̚͏̛̰͈͇̣̥͙̩Ȩ̝̫͕̳̬̦͔͔ͪ̃͐͊̊͝!̱͔̦̙̤̋ͯ̓͐͑͗͂͠_ ** ”

 

.

* * *

 

.

_“Damn…” The cult leader whistled to himself as he looked over the member’s injury. “Kid’s got some talent,”_

_“Nah, really?” The member muttered sarcastically. “I just love getting impaled…”_

_“At least it was only a small injury.” The leader remarked. “And at least the boy didn’t see your face; the boy’s father is already suspicious of us, and last thing we need is an angry father breathing down our necks while we try and get the boy to use his power for our goals.”_

_“Well, can’t you just explain to him the dangers of his son not being taken under our wing?” The member gestured to their hand. “I mean this is kind of telling if he’s already capable of summoning like this.” The leader nodded._

_“I’ll see what we can manage…the man is rather stubborn,”_

.

* * *

 

.

“Well then…” Alistair murmured as he watched his hand heal the rather massive hole left by the ink that the boy’s magic caused. “I wasn’t expecting that.” Roy starred in moderate horror at the demon, while Cordelia was soothing her boyfriend, who was slipping in and out of conscious.

“What _were_ you expecting?” Alistair shrugged.

“Well, certainly not magic so volatile.” He said. “Nor tiring out the user so quickly…you don’t have an ounce of training do you Joshua?” Joshua made a weak groan as Cordelia brushed his hair with her fingers before spilling into unconsciousness.

“What are you talking about?” She asked softly and Alistair smiled softly.

“Magic does require some use and training to keep it from doing whatever whenever, and I suppose it’s the same for Creators as well. If unattended, magic can bottle up and cause all sorts of mischief, as we just saw…” He held up his hand, which had now fully healed from the ink-like spike that had impaled his hand. Roy opened his mouth but Alistair continued. “Granted, this is a guess, but the magic is reacting to his emotional state, and apparently there is some stressing elements in regards to that.”

“No shit.” Both Bells stated in a deadpan tone. Alistair couldn’t help but chuckle at the two’s in-sync behavior. Perhaps this wasn’t what he was expecting, but he could improvise with what he had been given.

.

* * *

.

“Henry?” Grant entered the office and sighed softly as he saw Joey sleeping on Henry’s chest as the man himself was struggling to stay awake. “You’re going to make yourself sick.”

“I know…” Henry muttered, exhausted from the day’s ‘adventures’. “I know, but-”

“But nothing,” Grant sighed; he wasn’t going to put up with the man making himself sick. “Come on, let’s get you and Joey to an actual bed.” Henry tried to argue but Grant wasn’t having it as he helped Henry clear off the desk and make it to a nearby cot that Henry had gotten made up for Joey, when the man didn’t want to sleep in the drawer. “There we go…” Henry made an intelligible grumble. “Goodnight Henry.”

"Night...night Grant..."


	22. Chapter 22

While both Cordelia and Roy were loathe to have the demon spend the night at their house, he didn’t seem to be leaving. He flopped down on the couch beside Cordelia after Roy had taken Joshua upstairs to rest. She bristled at his presence, regarding him with a guarded and wary gaze. He just kept smiling at her. He wasn’t a bad looking man, even if he had a dead look in his eyes.

“Can I get you some tea?” She asked after a moment, forcing herself to smile. Her mother had always told her that when they had guests over, she should offer them something to drink. Although, she was fairly certain her mother had never anticipated a demon gracing their home. At least Alistair wasn’t trying to seduce them or anything. That was something she didn’t think she could handle.

“Oh, that would be wonderful!” Alistair’s face lit up. “What do you have?”

“Mostly black tea, I think.” She got up, going into the kitchen. She hadn’t really had time to get more tea. She and Roy had both been drinking coffee lately. Neither had been sleeping too terribly well. For some reason, they’d been having nightmares. The same kind of nightmare, actually. One where the people they loved were taken away from them and they were unable to stop it. In Cordelia’s nightmare, it had been Joshua and Roy. In Roy’s, it had been Cordelia and Joshua. They hadn’t talked enough about the nightmares to see the common thread, though. 

“That sounds lovely.” Alistair hummed, watching her over the back of the couch. She could feel his eyes on her back as she prepared the tea, something which made her extremely uncomfortable. In the end, she settled on a rooibos tea that had a nice scent.

“Here you go.” She walked back, putting the cup in front of him on the coffee table before retreating to an armchair.  

“Thank you.” He smiled amiably, picking it up and sipping at it. She had put a bit of cream and sugar in, but not too much. Although, it wasn’t as though Alistair cared about the taste. Just as long as it was warm.

“You’re welcome.” She replied. They sat in silence for a moment or two before Roy came downstairs. The dark circles under his eyes had gotten more prominent.

“He’s sleeping.” He said. “Not sure how long it’ll last, though.” He kept his eyes firmly on Alistair. The demon smiled disarmingly, sipping his tea.

“I’ll check on him later.” Cordelia pursed her lips, beginning to fidget with her hands. “I hate seeing him like this.”

“He might feel better if we got the vermin out of the house.” Roy’s eyes flicked over to Alistair, his lip curling in disgust.

“Excuse you, I am not vermin,” Alistair said coolly. “I may not be high ranking, but I’m no imp.” Roy rolled his eyes.

“Very well.” Alistair sighed dramatically, setting his cup down. “You should know that making me leave won’t make this go away. Others will come for him when they learn of his powers.”

“…Pardon?” Fear flashed in Cordelia’s eyes.

“Others will come.” Alistair repeated. “Creators are, shall we say, a hot commodity in supernatural circles. Many of us are able to create things, but there are precious few who can create living beings who breathe and think. That sort of power, well, it’s on par with many gods.” His smile suddenly looked much more sinister. “There are many who would kill to get their hands on that sort of power.”

Almost immediately, Roy grabbed Alistair and hoisted him up by his lapels. Cordelia jumped to her feet, ready to try and talk him down if things got nasty. She didn’t want him to get hurt because he thought he could fight someone he couldn’t.

“I’m just telling you the facts.” Alistair continued calmly, as though Roy wasn’t holding him aloft. “You can take them however you like. But you need to know that getting rid of me will not solve this problem.”

“It sure sounded like a threat to me,” Roy growled.

“Most things I say do tend to sound like that.” Alistair laughed. This only succeeded in making Roy even angrier. He growled again, lifting Alistair higher.

“Roy, stop.” Cordelia put a hand on his arm.

“He’s threatening us,” Roy said, his eyes never leaving Alistair’s face.

“As I said, it’s not a threat.” Alistair looked the slightest bit irritated now. “I’m simply informing you of the danger he’s in. I expect he’s been watched by the supernatural community for quite awhile now, even if he wasn’t aware of it.”

“What are we supposed to do then?” Cordelia asked, looking desperately at the demon in her brother’s grasp. “How are we supposed to keep living our lives if he’s never going to be safe?” She was so tired. So tired of all this supernatural bullshit. She’d thought maybe things would get better after she quit, but no, everything was still terrible.

“If he learns to control his powers, he’ll be able to handle himself,” Alistair replied. “Something tells me he’s already an incredibly capable man.”

“And I suppose you’re willing to teach him?” Roy’s voice dripped with sarcasm and malice.

“I would, actually!” Alistair’s face lit up. For a moment, Roy and Cordelia just stared at him blankly. Then Roy groaned and unceremoniously dropped him onto the couch.

“I’m too tired for this shit.” He grumbled before stomping upstairs. Cordelia sighed, her shoulders slumping.

“We’ll talk about this in the morning.” She said. “Joshua can decide whether he wants to see you again.” She started toward the stairs before stopping. “Don’t come upstairs. Just…don’t. Stay down here. Please.” Then she went upstairs.

Alistair stayed where he was on the couch, smoothing out his suit and adjusting himself so he was laying comfortably on the couch. In the darkness, he started to whistle Bendy’s signature song. This was going to be fun. Especially since Meadows was now involved.  

 

Stella groaned as she flicked through channels. Murray’s cable was basic at best. He obviously didn’t spend a lot of time watching television, although that didn’t surprise her. She glanced back at the door to her brother’s bedroom. She’d thought things would be better for him after he got out of that cult. Evidently, they hadn’t.

“God, what am I gonna do with you, Murray?” She muttered. She would admit, she was a little annoyed with the decisions he’d made. But he obviously wasn’t okay and she wasn’t about to abandon him when he needed her. He’d taken care of her when they’d been little, so now it was her turn to take care of him.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring. Stella’s frown deepened. Who could be calling at this hour? Getting up, she crossed to where the phone sat on a hall table and picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Stella?”

She was more than a little surprised by the voice she heard on the other end of the call. She also instinctively winced.

“Alexander…Hey…” She grimaced, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “It’s, uh, it’s been awhile.”

“It has.” Alexander laughed warmly. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been alright.” Stella tried very hard not to groan. “What about you?” She really didn’t want to be talking to him. Alexander was an alright man, but men like him tended to rub Stella the wrong way. He was just too slick for her comfort.

“I’ve been doing well,” Alexander replied. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m a lawyer now.”

“Oh really?” She rolled her eyes. Yeah, that sounded like something he’d be good at.

“Indeed. In fact, I’m currently representing a client, hence why I called this number.”

“You’re representing a client?” Stella felt her stomach begin to drop. “Who’s your client?”

“Susie Campbell. She wants to sue Joey Drew over some…events that occurred at Drew World.”

“Oh. Right.” Stella tried to slow her breathing. “And you called Murray because he works for Drew and you wanted to inform him of the lawsuit.”

“Precisely.”

“Murray’s sleeping right now, but I’ll tell him about it.” She glanced back at the door.

“Very well. Are you going to be in town for a while? Maybe we could meet up and-”

“We can talk about it later.” Stella cut him off. “It’s getting late and I should really be getting to bed.” There was a beat of silence, with Stella begging that Alexander would take the hint and move on. Thankfully, he did.

“Alright. I’ll talk to you later, then.”

“Talk to you later,” Stella said, then hung up. She let out a sigh of relief that the conversation was over. But still…She was going to have to face Alexander sooner or later. She’d have to tell Joey about the lawsuit in the morning.

“In the morning.” She said to herself. “It’s too damn late.” Turning off the lights, she went into the guest bedroom to get some rest herself.


	23. Chapter 23

...

“You’re still here.” Alistair looked up to see Joshua coming downstairs into the living room on his way to the kitchen. Alistair glanced at the clock, noting that it roughly 2:30 in the morning.

“We do have a lot to discuss.” Alistair chuckled sitting up. “Though it is rather early.”

“Couldn’t fall back asleep.” Was the short reply. Alistair offered a sympathetic smile, though it was hollow as Joshua sat in the armchair, wiping his face. “How long did you know?”

“Hmm?”

“How long did you know that I was a Creator or whatever?” Alistair shrugged.

“Admittedly it did take me a bit; after all, the park is a cornucopia of magical energy, and Murray certainly didn’t help, assuming I would want to harm Drew’s nephew.” Joshua made a hum sound. “Honestly I was just curious that Drew had relations in the magical community...thought he just dove into things head first…” Joshua chuckled.

“Yeah, that sounds like him...even when I was little he was like that…” Joshua admitted softly before sighing weakly.

“I assume you already know what I’m going to say.”

“I’m some hot shit in the magic community and will be in danger unless I can figure out...this...” Alistair raised an eyebrow. “I heard you guys earlier…Roy’s not exact the subtlest of individuals.” He sighed and wiped his face. “And I’ve got...past experiences that are just...too weird to not think they’re connected with this bullshit...”

“Ah, that’s certainly something…” Alistair mused and Joshua shrugged.

“Yeah….” He sighed in defeat. “Look, I trust you about as far as I can throw you, no offense, but I trust Murray and Joey even less.”

“I can’t argue with that in all honesty.”

“And I know that….whatever this Creator shit isn’t going to go away….” Joshua looked at his hands solemnly before looking at Alistair. “I just want to make sure that I’m not going to unintentionally hurt anyone.” Alistair nodded.

“Of course, Joshua, that I do understand.” Alistair said gently. “And I can help teach you.”

“It’s not going to cost me my soul is it?”

“I’m not that kind of demon, sheesh.” Alistair huffed in annoyance and Joshua smiled slightly.

“Hey, you realize how much shit I’d get if I did sell my soul? I’d be dead 10 times over...Nancy’s got a punch to rival most boxers…” Alistair couldn’t help but chuckle as he rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you say,”

.

* * *

 

.

Joey’s reaction to being told he was going to be sued was certainly _something_ , to say the least. The little demon had shut himself into a drawer while panicking, leaving Henry to try and calm his friend down.

“Joey, it’s going to be alright,” Henry said as he tried to open the drawer Joey locked himself in.

“I’m going to get sued!! It's not going to be alright!!”

“Joey, you’re a literal cartoon right now,” Henry said slowly. “Besides, what’s she going to sue you for? Being a shitty boss?” The drawer open and Joey poked his head out, glaring at Henry. “I’m serious.”

“I tried turning her into Alice Angel.” Henry blinked slowly before looking at Murray and Stella. “She was rather...irritated with Ms. Pendle taking “her role”.”

“So it was voluntary.” Henry said slowly.

“In a sense?” Murray offered, rubbing the back of his head. “I mean, she was the one that left the studio…causing the whole role change in the first place…”

“So she’s not going to have anything on you other than magically turning her into an Alice?”

“Well, when you put it like that, it’s not that bad of thing…”

“What thing?” Esther asked as she entered the office, frowning. “What’s going on?”

“I might be getting sued by my ex-girlfriend?” Joey offered sheepishly as Esther’s face was rather priceless.

“At least from what Ms. Stella is saying, Susie got herself a lawyer.” Esther audibly groaned as she rubbed her temples.

“Of course my brother is getting sued.” She muttered before looking at Stella. “Do you know the lawyer representing her?”

“Alexander Meadows.” Murray said as Stella shook her head. Esther made a small huh sound.

“You know him?” Henry asked.

“Sort of, he’s alright,” Esther said shrugging. “He’s good at his job, and he’s focused, he’s just not really good at the whole social cue thing.”

“Like Sammy not good or Wally or Shawn?” Joey asked, getting nudged by his friend. “What?” Esther sighed and shook her head.

“I don’t know what that entails Joey, so I don’t know. He’s just a dork when he doesn’t talk about law.”

“I suppose that’s one way of putting it.” Stella groaned as Alistair appeared in the office casually, as if it was normal for someone to appear into an office through magical means.

“Why are you here?” She growled and Alistair put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Come now, Stella, you should know that I couldn’t just leave; Joey still needs to be punished,” There was a whiny groan from the tiny demon. “And the amount of magic surrounding the park is going to attract a multitude of people in the supernatural community,” With a smirk he added. “And I’m going to be helping _foster_ the Creator's talent and help him get a grasp on his magic so that’s taken care of.” Henry furrowed his brows, seeming to catch the hint before crossing his arms and giving the ‘dad glare’ to Alistair, silently warning the demon that he better be careful around his ‘son’. Murray caught it and raised an eyebrow.

“Henry, do you know who the Creator is?” He couldn’t help but feel excitement building in him; finally he’d be able to see an actual Creator! Henry cooly glared at Murray as if to say ‘don’t you even start with me’. Luckily Alistair seemed to catch that as he chuckled.

“Murray, Murray, Murray, you never cease to surprise me.” He said grandly, looking like he wanted to wrap an arm around Murray, but thanks to the death glare he was getting from the little sister, he opted for tapping the man on the nose playfully. “He’s been right under your nose the whole time and you still haven’t noticed his power? Perhaps you’re the one who needs lessons in magic again,” Murray’s face went bright red as he stepped back, muttering something about time and place as Stella fumed and looked ready to fight the demon with her fists before the door opened, revealing Grant and a man in a business suit.

“And here’s the office, Mr. Meadows, as you can see, here’s everybody you need.” Grant said in a deadpan voice. “Now if you excuse me, I’ve got to make sure I don’t get roped into bumper cars again.” Grant left quickly as Stella tried to cover her face; she knew she was going to have to talk to Alexander sooner or later, she just wasn’t expecting it to be _this_ soon.

“Hi Alexander…” She muttered out a hello.

“Hello Stella, fancy seeing you this morning!” He said, smiling brightly. “I was only expecting to talk to Mr. Drew this morning but-”

“Joey’s not available right now,” Henry said quickly, introducing himself. “I’m the owner of the park, Henry Ross,”

“Alexander Meadows,” The man said, shaking Henry’s hand. “Do you happen to know when or where Joey is? I need-”

“I already told him about Susie suing him.” Stella said sharply, earning eyebrow raises from Alistair and her brother. “He’s hiding out in his office.”

“Ah...ok…” He noticed Esther. “Mrs. Klein.” She nodded in response.

“Meadows,” She looked over at Stella. “You two know each other?”

“Oh yes!” Alexander said brightly. “Our parents introduced us at a school event a while ago and-”

“Wowie, sounds like a good time, maybe you two ought to catch up~” Joey, using Bendy’s voice, said excitedly. “The park does have some good coffee places~” Stella glared at Joey as Murray stepped.

“Yeah, that might be a good idea while we try to pull Joey out of his hiding hole,” Murray offered, gently shoving his sister towards the door. “We’ll send Joshua or one of the Boris’s when we do.”

“Murray!!” Stella hissed at her brother. “What the fuck?!”

“Consider it payback for forcing yourself into my house.” Murray whispered back. “Besides, you know him and you can keep him busy.” Henry sighed and shook his head as Alistair wasn’t trying to hide his smile in the slightest.

“You’re a fucking asshole.”

“I know.” Murray led the two out of the office. “Have fun you two~” He slammed the door shut and sighed as Joey spoke up.

“Now what do we do?”


	24. Chapter 24

Stella glared at her brother as he ushered her and Alexander out with a hopeful smile. She was going to kill him for this. Alexander, at least, looked delighted at the prospect of spending some time with her.

“There are a bunch of coffee shops around here.” She sighed once the door had been slammed behind them. “They’re themed, but then again everything here is. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not particularly,” Alexander answered. “I was hoping to have a look around the park anyway.”

“Right. For the lawsuit.”

“For the lawsuit.” Alexander smiled apologetically. Stella tried to stifle a sigh, gesturing for the man to follow her. Deciding that she didn’t particularly want to be bothered, she chose one of the few bars that the theme park had, tucked into a back alley. All the drinks and food were themed around the characters, with drinks like the Siren Serenade Sazerac, Bendy’s Blood Mary, Charley’s Irish Coffee, Boris’ Fluffy Critter. She had to concede, Joey sure did know how to market. She chose a table in the back and both of them ordered some drinks. Stella settled on an Alice Angel themed drink whose base was an Angel Face cocktail. If she was being honest, she had a bit of a soft spot for Alice Angel. She just wished Alice’s voice actress wasn’t such a pill.

“I must admit, I didn’t expect you or your brother to end up in a place like this,” Alexander remarked after they’d been given their drinks.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stella frowned.

“Neither of you struck me as the sort that would enjoy a theme park.” Alexander shrugged, sipping at his Siren Serenade Sazerac. “You were both always so serious.” Stella shrugged.

“I mean, they’re fine. I don’t like large crowds but…” She trailed off a bit, her gaze going to her glass. “You have to admit, there’s a certain magic to them.” She allowed herself a small smile. “Seeing your favorite characters walking around, even if they’re just actors.”

“I’ve always thought you were a magical person.”

Stella looked over at Alexander, who appeared to be rather proud of himself for that last remark. She couldn’t help but start to laugh.

“If that’s your idea of flirting, you’re going to have to try harder.” She said, leaning back in her chair.

“Well, I’ll take that as a challenge.” Alexander’s smile widened. Stella blinked, feeling a blush rising in her cheeks.

“Anyway.” She cleared her throat. “The lawsuit.”

“Yes, of course.” Alexander’s smile fell a bit. “To be honest, she doesn’t have much of a case. Drew doesn’t seem like a particularly good person, but as far as I can tell, he hasn’t done anything illegal.”

“Campbell probably won’t be happy to hear that,” Stella said.

“I expect she won’t.” Alexander nodded, stirring his glass. “Although, he did turn her into a version of Alice Angel, so there’s that. But she consented, from what she tells me.” Stella’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart pounded in her ears. Alexander looked up from his drink, concern passing over his features.

“Is something wrong?”

“How…How do you know about that?” She asked slowly.

“Well, Miss Campbell told me.” Alexander’s brow furrowed slightly. “Where did Mr. Drew learn to do that sort of magic, anyway? From what I can tell, he himself isn’t a magically gifted individual.”

“Murray probably taught him.” Stella took a long gulp of her drink, draining the glass in an attempt to alleviate the dryness in her throat. Alexander made a small sound of acknowledgment, pulling out a notepad from his pocket and marking a few things down.

“You really don’t look well.” He glanced back up at her. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I just…didn’t know you were affiliated with the magical community.” Stella forced a smile.

“You didn’t?” Alexander tilted his head to the side. “I mean, your parents tried to set me up with you. I don’t think they would have done that if my family wasn’t affiliated.”

“Right…Of course.” God, she felt stupid now.

“So, there’s no need for any sneaking around.” He reached out and put his hand on hers. “If that makes you feel better.”

“It…does.” She let her shoulders drop a little. She’d hunched them upon realizing Alexander was a part of the secret world she hid from most normal people. She had been dreading having to sneak around him.

“I’m glad.” His expression brightened. “I know I’m technically here on business, but I would like to enjoy my time here with you as much as I can.” Despite herself, Stella blushed and looked away. She’d thought he was insufferable when she’d been younger. What had changed?

“Finish your drink and I’ll show you around.” She muttered, finishing her own drink. “I haven’t seen everything yet myself.”

“Fantastic!” Alexander practically beamed. “I was a bit curious about what this place could offer.”

“You’re about to see.” Stella put her glass down and got up. “Now come on.” She gestured for him to follow, and he did. However, one thing was nagging on her mind. Alexander was a part of the magical community, which meant he knew the rules. This meant he also likely knew of all the rules Murray had broken in this whole debacle. Her brother was already on thin ice with the community due to his involvement in the cult. This might very well be the last straw. But she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. She hoped.

.

“I’m going to have to talk to that Meadows man eventually, aren’t I?” Joey said, playing with his tail. They hadn’t come up with a whole lot of ideas of how to deal with the oncoming lawsuit. They all agreed that Alexander and Susie didn’t have much to go on in normal means. Joey was an asshole, but he hadn’t done anything illegal. Murray had been strangely quiet since he’d pushed Stella and Alexander out, as though he was trying to remember something. Alistair just smiled, standing behind him. Most everyone in the office was trying to ignore the demon.

“Well, a lawyer usually does need to talk to the person their client is suing,” Esther replied dryly. Joey rolled his eyes and blew a raspberry at his sister.

“Should we find some way to turn him back?” Henry glanced, although unwillingly, at Alistair.

“I could do that, yes.” Alistair’s smile widened. “It would certainly be more convenient for everyone involved if a talking cartoon demon didn’t go on trial. Of course, where he’ll be tried I doubt it would be too much of a head turner.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Henry asked as Murray scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide and all the color draining from his face.

“Ah, it seems he’s remembered.” Alistair let out a slightly sinister giggle.

“Remembered what?” Esther very nearly demanded, rounding on Murray. Murray instinctively drew back before awkwardly clearing his throat and standing up straighter.

“Alexander Meadows is a member of the magical community.” His voice shook as he spoke. “So it’s more than likely that will know about and try to pursue a case involving Susie’s transformation into Alice. I…I broke a lot of rules teaching you that kind of magic.”

“There are rules?!” Joey squeaked.

“Of course there are rules!” Murray snapped. “There are always rules!” He stopped, deflating a bit. “Sorry…It’s just…This is bad. This is really bad.”

“How bad?” Henry and Esther asked at the same time.

“Well, given that Murray is already in quite a lot of hot water for his relations with me…” Alistair wrapped his arms around Murray’s neck. “Rather bad, I would say.”

“Don’t say relations like that.” Murray flushed, pushing Alistair off of him. “It makes it sound dirty.” Joey started making a high-pitched screeching sound, his eyes going very small.

“Is there some kind of magical police force or something?” Esther dug out a notepad from her pocket, ready to take down any information.

“Actually, yes.” Murray nodded, rubbing his arm. “I met them once. It…wasn’t a fun experience. They really don’t like me.”

“The judge wasn’t all that fond of you either.” Alistair settled down in the chair Murray had vacated. “Still isn’t, really. Especially since I’m still hanging around you.” Murray groaned, covering his face with his hands.

“If it makes you feel better, Henry, I imagine you’ll be relatively safe.” Alistair continued, looking at Henry.

“And me?” Esther raised an eyebrow.

“You won’t be punished for your brother’s actions,” Alistair said. “Although, I do think they’ll want to talk to you since you are related to him.”

“Do you know when these…magic police will get here?” Henry asked, trying to get past the phrase ‘magic police’.

“Likely sometime after Mr. Meadows leaves today.” Alistair waved his hand in a vague gesture. “Somehow word will get back to them. It always does.” His nose crinkled in distaste. “I wonder if they’ll want to talk to young Foster.”

“They will.” Murray’s voice was muffled by his hands.

“I’m going to go check on him.” Henry grabbed his coat, immediately worried about what might happen to Joshua.

“We’ll be here~” Alistair waved as he left. This was certainly going to be interesting.


	25. Chapter 25

....

Henry let out a sigh of relief when he spotted Joshua and the rabbit toon, perfectly fine in the park working, talking with a young woman in a business suit.

“You’re ok...” Joshua and the woman looked at him.

“Yeah…?” Joshua asked, confused. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Henry just smiled and patted Joshua’s back as the woman chuckled.

“You must be Henry Ross.” The woman said before she introduced herself. “My name is Selene Castiella; I am actually here to speak with Murray and Mr. Drew, and Alistair if he happens to be in the park today.”

“Magic Police?” Henry asked in a deadpan tone and the woman chuckled.

“I see Alistair has already spoken to you about this.” Joshua looked between the two in confusion as Henry nodded.

“They’re in the main office…can’t miss it...though Alistair said you guys wouldn’t be here until after Mr. Meadows left…” Selene shrugged absently.

“We’ve known for a while, we just needed to be certain about the Creator’s involvement before we moved forward.” She patted Joshua on the arm gently, chuckling as she began to leave. “After all it be a shame to have to destroy such a rare oddity.” Joshua and Henry exchanged looks.

“Did she say what I think she said?” Henry made a groan.

“We better go make sure that there’ll still be an office standing after all this.”

.

* * *

 

.

“Why didn’t you tell me that there was rules!?” Joey demanded, attempting to shake Murray by the collar, but instead looking ridiculous, clinging to the taller man by the collar.

“It...slipped my mind.” Murray said softly.

“Sure it did…” Murray glared at Alistair, who was smiling playfully, clearly amused by the scene. “Clearly it’s not because you wanted to go forward with your little Creator scheme and didn’t want to risk Joey remembering he had morals. People do tend to get kind of,-what’s the phrase, ah, yes-kinda wiggy, if they realize that there’s rules and regulations in their power fantasy.” Murray glared at Alistair as Esther groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Enough.” She scolded the trio. “Now’s not the time for this; Joey, you’re going to need a lawyer for this lawsuit and I can’t in good conscience be yours, and do not even entertain that thought about representing yourself.”

“Ah! There we are!” The officer door opened and Selene entered gracefully, keeping up her smile as she saw the toon, man, and demon. “Alistair, Mr. Hill, Mr. Drew,” She nodded curtly to Esther. “Mrs. Klein,” Joey and Esther looked confused as Alistair looked bemused.

“You’re early.” Selene merely chuckled.

“We only wished to make sure that the Creator was not involved with the crimes committed by Mr. Hill and Mr. Drew by proxy. After all, as well you know, Creators are a rare commodity,” She trailed off, as if she wanted to say more, but not in front of the audience she had.

“What’s going to happen to my brother?” Esther asked slowly, dreading the answer. Selene shrugged simply.

“He is an accessory to at least two counts of manslaughter and at least 5 transmutational spells. The council will look over the evidence and see how much of the actions were of his own volition, and how much were cause of Mr. Hill.” She glared coolly at the man. “After all, Mr. Hill is rather _infamous_ for using his magical talents to manipulate things as he sees fit.” Murray looked away sheepishly as Esther shook her head.

“Are you implying that he brainwashed my brother?” Selene shrugged.

“It wouldn’t be the first time he’s pulled stunts like this.”

“Now, Ms. Calestila,” Alistair said, standing up as the Drew siblings stared in horror at Murray. “You can’t expect Murray and Joey to drop everything and head to go see the judge. They’re working~” Selene didn’t even bat an eyelash.

“The judge already made his decision regarding Mr. Hill, Alistair.” She reached into her coat and handed the demon a sealed letter. “Once the decision has been made in regards to Mr. Drew’s involvement, you may dispose of Mr. Hill as you see fit.” Alistair raised an eyebrow.

“Why am I considered the errand boy in this situation?”

“You did share a body with him.” She retorted. “The judge figured you be close by anyways.” She turned to Esther. “As for Mr. Drew, he will only need to spend a day with one of our head practitioners to evaluate the amount of influence Mr. Hill may have had on him and his mind.” She smiled gently. “And we may have to ask a few questions for you, but just as a way to understand how Mr. Drew might’ve found the magical community….and if you would like, I can give the number to a few after school programs meant to help children with magical talent.” Esther’s eyes went wide as she paled, Selene chuckling nervously, tapping the side of her own head. “Sorry, psychic readings never really mute themselves.” Esther relaxed slightly as Alistair rolled his eyes.

“The judge’s all get this planned out and everything, huh?” He made a huff sound and crossed his arms. “And assuming I’d even be willing to be his lap dog.”

“You were sent to punish Mr. Drew, but have yet to do so.” She gestured to the demon. “The forces that be have pulled rank over you and this is their way of humoring you, since you made the trip out here.” Alistair made a face. “Or we can allow the information that you still are fraternizing with a mortal, can’t control your underlings, _and_ -” The threat wasn’t finished as the office door opened and Henry entered, followed by Joshua. “Oh! Mr. Ross and Mr. Foster, pleasant timing. I was just explaining to them what will have to happen within the week and what not. Well, as it pertained to Mr. Drew. Mr. Hill’s fate has already been sealed.”

“Uh...what?” Joshua managed out and Selene chuckled.

“Do not worry, Mr. Foster, even without your powers as a Creator, Mr. Hill will not be a threat to you or your loved ones.” Joshua still looked confused as Murray’s eyes went wide as he looked at the young man in disbelief.

“ _W_ _HAT?!_ ”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I started listening to Blood // Water by grandson and got inspired.  
> Fair warning, this does get kind of creepy

Alistair was fuming. Alright. Fine. Maybe he’d been slacking off a little. But he so rarely got to play with humans anymore. Hell had become so bureaucratic. It was all paperwork all the time. He hardly got to do anything fun. And Murray, his favorite human, had been involved in this whole debacle. He’d practically begged his superiors to let him handle this one. They probably wouldn’t be happy he hadn’t been doing his job. But…He could figure something out. After all, he knew his direct superior had a nasty habit of falling in love with human women and one particular archangel. He could twist this situation to his benefit. He glanced back at Murray, who was staring at Joshua with a slack-jawed expression. It might have been good if he’d informed him of the Foster boy’s status first.

“In any case, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to talk with you separately, Mrs. Klein.” Selene turned to Esther, gesturing for her to follow. Reluctantly, Esther did. She wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible.

“It was him…It was him this whole time…” Murray murmured, running his hands through his hair. Then his head snapped around so he was looking at Alistair. “You. Did you know?!”

“Of course I did.” Alistair yawned. “I offered to help teach him how to control his little gift, although I don’t think he’s been all that receptive to it.”

“Gee, I wonder why.” Joshua folded his arms. Despite his seeming annoyance, it was clear he wasn’t completely comfortable with this sudden development.

“You sound an awful lot like those people who used to pester Joshua and his mother,” Joey said, trying to gain some semblance of control.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he attracted the attention of a cult.” Alistair waved a hand vaguely. “Creators are valuable, after all. They’re useful both alive and dead.” Instinctively, Henry put a hand on Joshua’s shoulder and pulled him back.

“That would explain it.” Murray murmured, beginning to wring his hands. Those people who had always been hanging around the Foster residence, saying that Joshua had potential. They’d known. They’d known when he hadn’t. How could he have been so stupid?!

“What did that woman mean when she said your fate was sealed?” Henry suddenly asked, his gaze firmly on Murray. Murray’s anger dissipated, returning to a state of panic.

“It means I get to do whatever I want with him~,” Alistair said brightly. “Her exact words were, ‘dispose of him how I see fit’.”

“That’s…That’s not so bad.” Joey laughed weakly. “You two like each other, right?”

“I do like him.” Alistair rose from his seat, appearing behind Murray and wrapping one arm around him while his free hand cupped Murray’s face. “Which is why I’ll make his torture absolutely exquisite.” He leaned in closer, resting his head against Murray’s. “I’ll destroy his mind, his body, day after day until he’s completely broken. Then I’ll build him back up to start again. If he’s lucky, I might even make him a demon in a few centuries.”

“Centuries?” Joey squeaked. Henry had stepped in front of Joshua as soon as the word torture had left Alistair’s lips. Joshua was as pale as he could conceivably go, and Murray himself looked on the verge of passing out.

“Of course.” Alistair’s smile was too wide to be natural, all sharp canines and teeth so white they didn’t look real. “It’s customary.” Other demons might have been gentler with their humans, but Alistair had never had much interest in playing human. He wasn’t human, nor had he ever been. He was being merciful, offering an end to the torment Murray would face in Hell. And giving Murray the chance to become a demon? To stand by his side? Others might have said he was going soft.

“Now,” He let go of Murray, striding over to the desk where Joey was standing. “I do believe this is rather overdue.” Before anyone could stop him, he’d grabbed Joey by the arm and the two of them were gone.

“What the- Where did he go?” Henry looked helplessly to Murray, who was rubbing his throat.

“Judging from what he said…He’s punishing Joey.”

“What does that mean?” Joshua demanded. Murray looked up at him, his eyes dead and hollow. He said nothing.

.

When Joey opened his eyes, he was in darkness. Well, darkness might not have been the best word for it. It was just…black. Everywhere was black. But, strangely, he could see himself. He was human once more, standing in this blackness.

“H-Hello?” His voice was shaking. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but he was pretty sure he’d just been kidnapped by a demon.

“We’ll never get free, lamb to the slaughter.” A voice whispered from somewhere in the darkness. It didn’t sound like Alistair’s voice. It was almost…angelic.

“Who’s there?” Joey demanded, turning around.

“What you gon’ do when there’s blood in the water?” The voice was right behind him now, breath tickling his cheek. Joey turned around again, but still, there was no one.

“The price of your greed is your son and your daughter. What you gon’ do when there’s blood in the water?” The voice sang again.

“Please, you’re starting to scare me.” A whimper entered Joey’s voice. He felt like a scared little boy again. He was so far out of his depth now. There was no bravado to be summoned, no mask to put on. He was a scared little man in the clutches of a demon.

A figure appeared from the darkness and Joey briefly let relief wash over him as he could make out Alistair’s features. This relief was short-lived, however, when he saw that Alistair’s eyes were black and his smile was that of a predator.

Alistair began to sing as he drew closer, the voice Joey had heard before emanating from his mouth. “Look me in my eyes. Tell me everything's not fine. Or the people ain't happy. And the river has run dry.” He cupped Joey’s face in his hands, nails digging into Joey’s skin. “You thought you could go free. But the system is done for. If you listen here closely. There's a knock at your front door.”

“Stop!” Joey shoved Alistair away. Alistair almost flew back, arms spread wide.

“We'll never get free, lamb to the slaughter. What you gon' do when there's blood in the water?” He jerked his hands up, almost as if pulling invisible puppet strings. Two figures rose from the blackness below the demon’s feet, revealing themselves to be twisted facsimiles of Linda and Joshua. They were both crying, their wrists and ankles bound in glowing manacles. “The price of your greed is your son and your daughter. What you gon' do when there's blood in the water?”

Linda and Joshua weren't his children, at least not in a blood sense. But he'd come to care for them immensely. He regretted what he'd done to Linda and Maria, now that he truly understood the gravity of his actions. Henry had allowed Joey to be a part of his family, to be almost kin to his children. Joey had never thought of Linda and Joshua as his children, not really, but now...Knowing how much he'd hurt these children because of his actions...He thought of them almost as the Isaac to his Abraham. Except he'd followed through on his sacrifice. 

“Don’t hurt them!” Joey yelled, diving for the puppets. As soon as he touched them, they and Alistair vanished. Joey scrambled to his feet, searching desperately for where Alistair could have gone. It was then that he realized his hands were covered in a mixture of blood and ink.

“No. No no no! Nononononononono!” He tried to wipe it away on his vest, but he couldn’t get it off. It had stained his skin. He dropped to his knees, muttering and staring at his hands. He almost didn’t notice someone walking up in front of him. He stopped, slowly looking up. Henry stood before him, his expression cold and hard. To Joey’s horror, his friend opened his mouth and began to sing with that same unearthly voice Alistair had.

“Beg me for mercy. Admit you were toxic. You poisoned me just for another dollar in your pocket.” Henry lifted his hands, the darkness around them bubbling and writing. “Now I am the violence. I am the sickness. Won't accept your silence. Beg me for forgiveness.” Alistair and the twisted puppets of Linda and Joshua reappeared, the four figures beginning to rotate around Joey as he tried to cover his ears and block it all out.

“We'll never get free, lamb to the slaughter. What you gon' do when there's blood in the water?” They all sang. “The price of your greed is your son and your daughter. What you gon' do when there's blood in the water? When there's blood in the water?”

“Stop it! Please, stop!” Joey sobbed. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I know I messed up! I know!” But the demented chorus around him didn’t stop. Joey collapsed into a ball, continuing to cry.

.

“Mrs. Klein? Are you alright?”

“Hm.” Esther snapped back to reality. “Oh, um, yes. I’m fine.” She’d just gotten the worst feeling that something was wrong with Joey. “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

“I just wanted to ask you a few questions,” Selene said. “Just to figure out how your brother might have found the magical community.”

“Well…He’s always been interested in magic.” Esther admitted, hunching her shoulders and drawing her cardigan tighter around her. “He liked learning about the things people told him not to.” She allowed herself a faint smile. She remembered one particular trip to the library where Joey had found some dusty book in the back which the librarian had immediately told him to put back. He’d taken it when she wasn’t looking and took it home with him. He’d begged her not to tell their parents when she’d found the book under his mattress, and she hadn’t. She didn’t know what had happened to that book. She didn’t even know what had been in it. Maybe she should have put her foot down more. Maybe she could have prevented this.

“I can assure you that this is in no way your fault, Mrs. Klein.” Selene’s voice broke her from her self-loathing. “Even if Mr. Hill had nothing to do with Mr. Drew’s actions, he followed this path himself. You are not responsible for what he’s done.”

“Alright…” Esther nodded slowly. Still…She couldn’t shake the terrible feeling that was developing in the pit of her stomach. Something was happening to Joey. Something bad.


	27. Chapter 27

...

“Why are we going to Uncle Joey’s office?” Isaac asked as he followed his sister towards the office, a pit growing in his stomach the closer they got there.

“I saw mom going in there, along with some lady!” Rachel said firmly. “I want to know who that lady is!” Isaac bit back a groan of annoyance as he followed his sister into the office, seeing only Murray, Henry, Joshua, and some lady. “Huh?” The adults looked at him, Murray stopping in his pacing. “What’s going on?”

“Rachel,” Henry said softly before sighing a running a hand through his hair as Selene was on the desk phone talking rather casually with whoever was on the other side. “It’s kind of complicated,” Rachel opened her mouth. “Alistair took Joey, and we’re...trying to get him back….” Rachel closed it as she looked concerned. “Your mom is with Stella and a friend of theirs, and Ms. Castelia is working on the situation…” Selene got off the phone, sighing, before standing up off the desk and looked at Murray.

“Well if you want the judge to reconsider your punishment or redeem yourself, you now have that choice.” Selene said before turning to Joshua. “Mr. Foster, I am advising you to leave the office for your own safety before I start.”

“What are you doing?” Henry asked and Selene sighed softly.

“I am going to be stripping the demon of his power when I have him summoned to a ritual circle.” She said simply, removing her coat jacket and placing it on a nearby chair. “His superiors have accepted my request because of his inability to properly follow instructions. Well, that and apparently one of his imps squealed to his direct supervisor who already wanted an excuse to get rid of him.” She removed her watch and fished in her pockets for a small pouch of salt. “It is a risk of course as I truly doubt Alistair would be willing to submit quietly, and the process of removing nearly a millennium of demonic energy is certainly not pleasant.”

“You sound like you’ve got experience with that.” Murray gave Joshua a lidded glare.

“She was one of the officers who helped Stella exorcise me from Alistair.”

“And you see how he repays her.” Was the remark from the magic police as she started to arrange the office so she’d have room. “Now, this is the final time I’m asking; are you going to help me Murray?” Murray didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, I will.” Henry looked at Joshua who let out a sigh.

“Rachel, Isaac, I think that’s our cue to leave,” Rachel made a face but considering the looks she was getting from a few of the adults, she huffed and followed Joshua out of the office along with her brother.

“They’ll get Joey back, right?” Isaac asked softly and Joshua smiled gently.

“I think so,” He said, turning to the two kids. “But he’s not going to be the same guy that Alistair took….He’s going to need a lot of help in reminding himself that he’s alright…” The two nodded and Joshua smiled. “Come on, you guys can help me find where the Boris’s led the rabbit fella…”

“Probably the Bumper Cars!” Isaac said as he led the way towards there. Rachel looked hesitantly at the office before sighing and following after her brother. Joshua chuckled before jogging after the two, unaware that a small group was watching them.

.

* * *

 

.

Henry couldn’t help but stare as he watched Selene create the ritual circle and began whatever she was doing with Murray as the circle of salt seemed to glow slightly. Understandably Alistair was a tad surprised as he found himself back in the office, Henry catching the momentary flash of confusion on the demon’s face before he turned to Selene.

“I’m in the middle of something,”

“Yes, and it’s call kissing your demon ass goodbye.” Henry couldn’t help but snort as Alistair frowned, attempting to step out of the circle, realizing he wasn’t going anywhere, and trying to counter the magic with his own. A small smile tugged at Selene’s lips before she spoke. “Alistair Ainsley, for the crimes of disobedience, fraternizing with mortals, and the kidnapping of a mortal man, you are here by demoted to the very thing you were sent to punish.” Alistair’s eyes widened.

“Y-You can’t do that!” He snarled as sigils on Selene’s hands appeared and she uttered out something in a language long since abandoned. “NO!” Alistair roared in anger as red tendrils of what Henry was assuming was magic, but considering the agonized screams coming from Alistair, it could’ve been blood that oozed out from the demon. Murray had his eyes shut as he helped keep the demon in the circle, refusing to look as said demon slammed against the barriers, each time becoming weaker and weaker as the tendrils rose faster and thicker before Alistair slumped to his knees, looking rather pathetic and pleading as the dark red appearing fluid-like magic seeped into the ring of salt surrounding Alistair. As it seemed to finish, Selene stumbled back, Henry rushing over to catch her before she hit the ground. She let out a pained groan as she wiped her nose.

“A-Are you alright?” Selene forced a pained smile as Murray slumped to the ground, followed by Alistair, whose eyes had rolled back into his head, as he rather ungracefully landed in Murray’s lap.

“I-It isn’t that bad, Mr. Ross.” She chuckled softly. “He wasn’t that high ranking of a demon to begin with...and we did catch him off guard…” She coughed slightly as Henry helped her to a standing position. “One of my colleagues will collect Joey from whatever pocket dimension Alistair took him to and we will assist him in recovering as well as figuring out how much influence Murray had on his actions.” She managed out, no doubt sensing Henry’s question on his mind. After a moment she made her way to Alistair, grabbing the watch and placing it on his wrist. “This will allow the magic community to keep an eye on him until I return to handle Mr. Drew and you.” She looked at Murray with a tired look before going to her jacket. “I will inform Mrs. Klein about-” She stumbled slightly. Henry wanted to go towards her, but she held up her hand and after a moment, nodded, apparently alright now. “I’m fine. Just light headed.”

“I’ll let Esther know…” Henry offered and Selene smiled in relief.

“Thank you.” She said softly before putting on her coat. “I will be back within the week to deliver the results.” She looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead just let out a tired sigh and shuffled out the door. Henry let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding in as he looked at Murray, who was barely sitting upright.

“I did the right thing...right?” Murray asked softly, as if he was afraid of the answer. Henry smiled gently.

“I think so, Murray, I think you did….” Murray smiled softly as the door to the office opened, Stella gasping as she saw her brother.

“Murray!”

“They’re alright,” Henry said before explaining what happened as Stella rushed over to her brother and helped him up, not doubt partially releshing in the small thunk Alistair made when he face planted. Esther was still pale, but she seemed to look less likely to pass out as Alexander adjusted his tie nervously.

“I knew they were powerful...but that’s something different entirely…” Alexander muttered before shaking his head. “What are you going to do now?” Henry sighed, shrugging.

“I would rather wait on what she wants to do…” He admitted before gesturing to the couch. “There’s a couch here so I’m not entirely worried…” Esther sighed.

“Did she say how long she would be gone?”

“Less than a week, hopefully…” Henry said. “They’re going to help Joey recover….” Esther nodded softly before sighing.

“I should probably go find the kids and get home...it’s been a day…” Henry smiled.

“I completely understand that; I’ll let you know when Ms. Castelia is back…”

.

* * *

 

.

“Now, now, now, darling, that’s certainly not a good look on your handsome face,” Joshua frowned as his already bruised jaw was gripped tightly. “And boy you certainly grew up nicely; you certainly have your father’s looks.” There was some patronizing chuckling before his kidnapper made a blissful humming sound. “A pity you couldn’t join our ranks when we first found you, but as the old saying goes, better late than never~”


	28. Chapter 28

“Mom! Mom!” Suddenly, the door to the office was slammed open and Rachel and Isaac came running in. Isaac was crying so hard he could barely speak and Rachel looked downright terrified. The children didn’t even notice Alistair or the state that Murray was in.

“What’s going on?” Immediately, Esther knelt to her children’s level. She’d been worried when she’d seen Isaac’s face, but Rachel’s made an icy lump develop in her stomach. Rachel liked putting up a strong front. She didn’t like showing weakness to anyone. Bursting in here like this, looking so scared, it meant something bad had happened.

“Where’s Joshua?” Henry asked. He was worried by how upset the children looked, but also by the fact that Joshua wasn’t with them. He hoped that they’d just gotten hurt or something, but Rachel’s next words confirmed his worst fears.

“A-A bunch of people took him!” Rachel started to rock back and forth on the balls of her feet, pulling nervously at her braids. Isaac had buried his face in his mother’s chest, crying even harder.

“People took him?” Alexander frowned. “Why would people take him?”

“Foster’s a Creator,” Murray said, rubbing his temples. Gods, he was so tired. This was far too much excitement for him. Stella couldn’t help but snort. She quickly composed herself when Alexander looked back at her.

“How? What happened?” Henry fought hard to keep himself from yelling. He was clenching his fists so tightly his nails dug into the flesh of his palm.

“A guy came up and asked for directions and p-put a gun to Joshua when we weren’t looking.” Rachel started to rock even more, tugging on her braids even more insistently. “I should have screamed. I should have done something. I- I- I-”

“Come here.” Esther drew her daughter to her chest beside Isaac, patting both of their backs as Rachel started to cry as well.

“It’s okay.” Esther’s voice was soft as she soothed her children. “You’re okay.”

“Did they say anything to you before they took him?” Henry asked. It was almost impossible to keep himself calm. But he didn’t want to scare the children. This wasn’t their fault. They were as scared as he was.

“I…I think they said something about it being better late than never?” Rachel managed to calm herself a little, although she was still sniffling loudly. “It sounded like they knew him…They said you and Uncle Joey kept them away or something.”

“Given he’s a Creator, my bet would be on some kind of cult getting ahold of him,” Stella said, now completely serious. “Did anyone harass him when he was younger? It sounds like they’ve known about his powers for a long time.” Henry nodded slowly. He had a bad feeling that he knew exactly who had taken his son.

“There were these…people.” He spoke slowly, his stomach twisting. “They used to come around when the studio first started up. They were always talking about Joshua’s potential. How important it was that he come with them.” They’d been a little irritating, but Henry had been sure he could somehow get through to them.

“That does sound in line with many cults who target Creators.” Alexander’s expression grew solemn as well. The mention of a cult made the Klein children even more upset. Both were now wailing into Esther’s cardigan.

“I have to find him.” Henry grew agitated. He still didn’t entirely understand this whole Creator thing, but he understood that these people were dangerous and they could probably do a lot of damage to his son. He was absolutely going to murder these people for touching his kid. Especially if they’d managed to hurt Joshua.

“I can help you track them,” Stella said, starting to pull out some spell components. Henry nodded, feeling a little better at the offer of help. Stella was much more comfortable with this world, and obviously rather competent.

“I have to go.” He looked back at Murray. “Can you handle…him?” He pointed to the passed out former demon on the floor.

“Yeah.” Murray nodded wearily. “It’ll probably be a lot easier now that he can’t set things on fire with his mind.”

“I wouldn’t hold your breath. He’ll figure out some way to be a nuisance.” Stella muttered under her breath as she assembled the components into a strange mishmash that didn’t logically look like it would do anything. But still…It glowed with an unearthly light.

“Great.” Henry managed a small smile.

“Come on.” Stella gestured to him and they ran out of the office.

“I’ll inform Ms. Castelia of this development,” Alexander promised before leaving as well.

“Is Mr. Joshua going to die?” Isaac whispered, his eyes suddenly going wide as if he’d suddenly realized this. “Are those people going to kill him?!” He looked on the verge of a panic attack.

“Is he going to die because of us?!” Now Rachel was starting to freak out. “I don’t want to be the reason he dies! I really like him!” By this point, the high-pitched voices of the children and the general commotion were causing Alistair to stir.

“He’s not going to die,” Esther said firmly. “You two didn’t do anything wrong. You came and got help, just like I told you to.”

“B-But they still took him.” Rachel clung to her mother. “They took him and we couldn’t do anything.”

“You would have gotten hurt if you’d tried to stop them.” Esther drew them closer. She didn’t want to think about what she would have done if they’d gotten hurt. She knew she could be just as impulsive as her brother when it came to her family.

“Why are those brats crying?” Alistair groaned, still face-down on the floor.

“None of your business. Shut up.” Murray kicked his leg. Esther shot the former demon a poisonous glare before turning her attention back to her children.

“Let’s get you home.” She said, standing up. Neither child protested as their mother led them out of the office.

Alistair and Murray were left alone, both still on the floor. Alistair grumbled as he pushed himself up from the ground, rubbing his nose. It wasn’t broken, but he was pretty sure he’d bruised it by falling face-first onto the ground. He’d have to deal with that now, which irritated him to no end. One thing he’d enjoyed about being a demon was the inability to actually be hurt. All his injuries had always healed within moments of receiving them.

“How does it feel to be human?” Murray asked, feeling some small measure of satisfaction at seeing the demon so normal.

“Shitty,” Alistair replied. “That witch does understand that this isn’t even **my** body, doesn’t she? She basically just killed the original Alistair Ainsley.” Witch was obviously supposed to be an insult, but it was technically true.

“We both know you ate his soul a long time ago.”

Alistair rolled his eyes. “Alright. Fine. But he does have a family, you know.”

“I **do** know that.” Murray folded his arms. “I also know he hasn’t spoken to them since he was 18. Plus he doesn’t have a significant other or children. I doubt anyone will know the difference.”

“You are such a smartass.”

“I thought you liked it.”

“I like it less when **you’re** the reason I’m trapped in this body, my little Icarus,” Alistair growled. “You were supposed to burn and fall and die. I would have relished watching you suffer in my care for all eternity, trapped in a Hell of your mistakes. Now I’m stuck here because you suddenly decided you didn’t want to be a ‘bad person’ anymore. As if that makes up for any of the things you did.”

Murray was a little surprised. He didn’t think he’d ever actually seen the demon this angry before. The creature that called itself Alistair didn’t find many things to be worthy of anger. Most of the interactions Murray had had with it had involved it being generally amused by humans and how ‘insignificant’ and ‘petty’ they were. It found the fury of humans to be rather adorable, or so it had told him. It hadn’t outright laughed at him when he himself was angry, but it had certainly thought it was hilarious. It had been angry when it had been exorcized from Murray, but not furious. Just mildly irritated and inconvenienced for the most part. It was honestly kind of funny to see how furious it was at actually losing. Like a spoiled child who’d been told no for the first time.

“Well, don’t you look pleased with yourself?” Alistair narrowed his eyes as Murray stifled a snicker.

“It’s funny.” Murray started to laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get angry before.”

“Why wouldn’t I be angry?! That witch took away all my power and **_you_** helped her!” Alistair stumbled to his feet, looking much less imposing than he usually did. “I didn’t work my way up from being a lowly imp to be turned into a disgusting human being! Your kind are weak! You have always been weak! And I refuse to be one of you!” This caused Murray to begin laughing uproariously.

“What’s so funny?!” Alistair snapped, feeling his cheeks beginning to heat up. People who laughed at him usually got obliterated, often after having their minds shattered, but he couldn’t do that now. He was a squishy human and Murray was better at hand to hand combat than he was.

“You are!” Murray almost fell over from laughing so hard. “You lost! **We** lost!”

“We haven’t lost!” Alistair tried to protest. But he knew Murray was right. His powers were gone, he and Murray basically had ankle monitors. They’d lost. He stood there for a moment or two before sitting down again.

“Fine. We lost.”

“We did.” Murray stood up, stretching and cracking his bones. “Do you want to go on some rides?” Alistair stared at him, brow slightly furrowed.

“What?”

“I said, do you want to go on some rides?” Murray repeated. “There are a few thrill rides that Piedmont cooked up, but there’s also a carousel.” He paused, then laughed. “Sorry, an octopus ride. He’s so sensitive about the distinction.”

“You’re…inviting me to go on theme park rides.” Alistair stared at him as though he’d gone mad.

“If you don’t want to come, I can just leave you here,” Murray said. “Selene will know where you are no matter what thanks to that bracelet, so I don’t need to babysit you or anything.”

“I resent the notion that anyone would need to babysit me,” Alistair grumbled, getting to his feet. “But very well, I’ll come with you. I don’t want to stay here until **_she_** gets back.”

“Great.” Murray smiled and took the former demon’s hand. Alistair didn’t really pay it any mind, although Murray did note that the other man was squeezing his hand a bit.

“So, have you ever actually been to a theme park before?” Murray asked as they joined the crowds. He’d snagged some little demon headbands for them, putting on one Alistair before the former demon could protest.

“I went to Disneyland when it first opened.” Alistair shrugged slightly and adjusted the headband. “More out of curiosity than anything else. It didn’t do much for me.”

“Too sweet and cutesy for you?”

“Something like that.”

“Well,” Murray grinned. “I think you’re going to like this place. Let me show you the haunted house.”

.

When the agents found Joey, he was still curled up on the ground, surrounded by a circle of specters. The number of phantoms had grown now to include everyone Joey had harmed in his pursuit of a Creator. The singing and dancing were gone. They stood silent around him, just staring down at him. The silence was almost deafening. The leader gestured to the others to check out the area before advancing to where Joey lay. With a wave of his hand, he dispersed Alistair’s illusions. He’d never liked that one. Some of the demons he’d worked with had been perfectly professional, considering their work to be just a job. Alistair had always been…Well, a nuisance would be too kind a word.

“Mr. Drew?” He asked, kneeling down beside him. Joey said nothing.

“Mr. Drew, I’m here to take you home.”

“You’re not real.” Joey’s voice was hoarse, as though he’d been screaming for hours. There was a defeated look in his eyes.

“I’m very real, Mr. Drew.” He wasn’t surprised by Joey’s state. Pocket dimensions like this worked differently. There was no telling how much time had passed in here. Joey still didn’t respond, closing his eyes and curling tighter.

“Would it make you feel better if I told you my name?”

Joey made a small whimpering sound. He supposed Alistair had taunted Joey with visions of possible rescuers before.

“My name is Daniel Kalagin.”

Joey opened one eye, cautiously optimistic.

“That sounds Russian.” He murmured.

“It is.” Daniel nodded, smiling. “I was born in Russia.”

“How did you end up part of the magic police?”

Daniel snorted, trying to hide his smile. “It’s, uh, kind of a long story. I can tell you on our way out of here.” He held out a hand to Joey, which the other man eyed warily. It was a moment or two before Joey finally took it, allowing Daniel to pull him to his feet. Daniel pulled a walkie-talkie from his hip, speaking into it.

“I’ve got Drew. We’re getting out of here.” He said. His team began making their way back to the portal as he stepped through, where a group of medics was waiting. Joey was understandably jumpy, flinching as the healers checked him out for any injuries. One of Daniel’s agents was informing Selene that they’d secured Joey while another was calling Esther. Once the healers were finished, Joey was given a shock blanket and sat down to calm himself a little before they moved him. Joey still seemed tentative, ready for his freedom to be yanked away from him.

“So, you want to hear how I started working for the ‘magic police’?” Daniel asked, sitting down beside Joey.

“You don’t have to,” Joey said quietly, pulling the blanket tighter around himself.

“Trust me, he loves telling this story.” A healer to the side said. She was a small and stocky dark-skinned woman with dyed pink hair.

“Give me a break, Cass.” Daniel feigned a hurt look. “It’s a fun story to tell.”

“Seriously,” the woman, Cass, continued. “He whips out his fangs the way most men whip out their-”

“CASS!” Daniel cut her off, his face turning a rather interesting shade of red.

“Sorry.” Cass put her hands up and walked away.

Daniel cleared his throat. “Sorry about that. She, uh, she likes to tease me.”

Joey allowed himself to laugh a little.

“It’s alright.” He smiled slightly. “You two seem close.”

“She’s my sister-in-law, but we’re pretty much siblings at this point.” Daniel sighed “Anyway, moving on. The story of how I ended up here. So, I’m a vampire.” He pulled his top lip up to reveal fangs in the place of canines. Joey’s eyes widened.

“A vampire?” He whispered, his tone laced with awe.

“Yep.” Daniel’s confidence seemed to have returned with Joey’s reverie.

“How did you get turned?” Joey scooted closer, looking rather like an impressed child.

“I used to be a scientist specializing in diseases,” Daniel explained. “My colleagues and I were studying what we thought was a new strain of porphyria in a woman who’d been admitted to our hospital. But it turned out to be a vampire. She was pretty pissed that we’d been experimenting on her and turned me as revenge.”

“And then she got staked by Vanya and died.” Cass sat down beside Daniel. “A little anti-climactic, honestly, but at least he didn’t end up her servant. We were pretty scared.”

“It would have been bad.” Daniel agreed.

“Who’s Vanya?” Joey tilted his head to the side.

“My sister and Cass’ wife,” Daniel said. “They’d come by to drag me out for lunch or something.”

“Danny’d been cooped up in his lab for ages and we were getting worried.” Cass leaned on Daniel’s shoulder. “I don’t know what he would’ve done if we hadn’t shown up.” Joey started to laugh, then abruptly stopped and drew into himself.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked.

“It’s going to end.” Joey murmured, starting to shake. “He’ll be here soon.”

“He’s not coming back.” Daniel’s voice was soft. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“That’s what all the others said.” Joey covered his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. “Then he came and killed them and it was all just a trick.” His breathing picked up. “You’re not real! None of this is real!”

“Mr. Drew-” Daniel reached for him, but Joey violently slapped his hand away and stumbled to his feet.

“I can’t take this anymore! Please!” Joey began screaming, looking wildly around. “I’ll do whatever you want me to! Just make it stop! Please!” Daniel looked over to Cass and nodded. Cass extended a hand toward Joey, whispering a spell. Joey stopped screaming, a warm and comforting feeling washing over him. It felt like when he’d been young and he’d snuggled up with Esther while she read him stories.

“I’m not…I’m not tired, Esther.” He mumbled, starting to sway. Daniel quickly caught him before he crumpled to the ground, picking him up bridal style.

“We should get him to his sister’s house.” Cass stood up, pulling out her phone.

“Do you have the address?”

“Yeah. Castelia sent it to me.” Cass pulled it up.

“Start filling out the report,” Daniel called to one of his subordinates as he headed for the car.

“Yes, sir!”


	29. Chapter 29

...

“So you’re a vampire.”

“Yeap.”

“So you can’t eat garlic!?” Daniel shrugged.

“Not necessarily. It’s kinda like being allergic to nuts or lactose.” Esther couldn’t help but smile as she held her brother close on the couch as Daniel was being bombarded by questions from both Rachel and Isaac, while Cass was in the other room on the phone with Stella, the two corroborating the recent information regarding Joshua’s kidnapping. “It’s annoying, but I can muscle through it for some good food.”

“Can you turn into a bat?”

“I can’t say I’ve tried….nor do I really want to…” Isaac looked visibly disappointed. “I have done the wolf transformation on accident...my sister says I make an adorable labradoodle.”

“What about the sun? Don’t vampires turn to ash?” Rachel asked slowly.

“Not really anymore...the strain of vampirism I got wasn’t the really old school one.”

“Oh...there’s different types of vampires?” Daniel smiled playfully as Rachel’s eyes went wide.

“Whoa…” Esther chuckled before looking at her brother who was drowsily opening his eyes.

“E-Essie?” He whispered softly, earning a soft squeeze from his sister’s hug. Daniel smiled softly as the two children hurried over to their uncle, hugging him tightly as Cass reentered the room.

“Any news?”

“Well, Mr. Meadows informed Castelia that Ms. Hill is tracking Joshua down…” She offered a smile to the children while Joey looked still partially out of it. “They’ll find him, don’t worry.” She smiled before her phone buzzed again. Everyone looked at her confused as she answered it.

“Hello-What is it Stella?” Cass was quiet before letting out a sigh. “I understand that, but I don’t know if he’s alright enough to…isn’t her father there? They have his number don’t they? Or her mother’s?”

“What’s going on Cass?”  Cass sighed softly.

“Apparently there’s another rather powerful magic user at the park; one that can help them out in finding the Creator….” Joey made a weak whine.

“The park is going to gather curiosity from the magic-” Daniel started to say but Cass shook her head

“It’s not from the magic community.”

.

* * *

.

_Earlier_

“Hi Mr. Murray!” Murray turned and saw Bertie and Lacie, along with a little girl, who was waving at them, Murray recognizing the girl as the child of one of the tattoo artist that worked there.

“Oh, hi there…?” He said as Alistair groaned in disgust as the girl giggled.

“I’m Ruby silly!” Murray chuckled.

“Right, right, my bad…” He said, getting to the girl’s eye level. “How are you today?”

“I’m good! Mr. Piedimen and Ms-Lacie-Just Lacie are showing me around while Daddy is working!!”

“Wow, that’s really nice, huh?”

“Murray,” Alistair whined loudly, as if he was getting his teeth pulled. “Why are you even bothering?” Murray rolled his eyes as Bertie raised an eyebrow.

“Ruby, this is a...friend of mine...Alistair...he’s just a little bored.” Ruby made a face.

“Well, he doesn’t have to be rude about it.” Bertie turned to cover his choked laugh as Alistair looked at the girl with a deadpan glare.

“You-” Lacie coughed and casually cracked her knuckles, sending the message pretty clear that even if Alistair was still a demon, he’d be limping if he finished that thought. Alistair just made a face and huffed dramatically, confusing the toddler. Murray chuckled softly.

“Don’t worry about it Ruby, he’s fine...just a little bored.” Ruby nodded slowly before looking at Murray. “Is something up?”

“Um, you’re magicky right? The Borisies say you know all bunches of magic!” Murray chuckled nervously.

“I suppose…” Alistair groaned loudly as Bertie looked like he was going to deck the demon next if he continued to only communicate by groaning loudly. “Why? Do you need a magic trick?”

“Um…” Ruby frowned as she tried to think of her words. “Well no...but Uncle Joshy is gonna need some help though.” Murray paled slightly as Lacie chuckled.

“Well, why’s that Ruby? Have the Borises roped him into bumper cars again?” Ruby shook her head quickly.

“No, some robey people are making him stay in a room by himself.” Even Alistair looked at the toddler in shock. “The robey people were being really loud too so I don’t think Uncle Joshy could take a nap...”

“Ruby…” Murray said slowly. “How...do you know that?”

“I saw it!” The toddler said brightly and Alistair rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Before Mr. Piedimen picked me up I saw Uncle Joshy in that room after I laided down for my nap! He couldn’t hear me though...Oh! But one of the robey men waved at me when I went into the hallway!” Ruby giggled. “And then he did this,” She put a finger to her lips and tried to wink. “And then I was back home!”

“The brat can astral project.” Alistair muttered as the other adults exchanged looks of concern and shock. “Because of course, why not?”

“W-We need to contact Ms. Castelia…” Alistair let out a very dramatic groan.

“Do we have too? I’d rather not see that smug-”

“Finish that and I will be making sure you can’t walk, demon or not.” Bertie said firmly as he covered Ruby’s ears before turning to Murray. “I do hope you can explain what you’re talking about.” Murray sighed softly.

“Unfortunately I can.”

.

* * *

.

“Tch, tch, tch” Joshua groaned as he felt his chin being lifted up. “I told them to be gentle.” Joshua winced as he felt a tingling sensation as the bruises along his jaw healed. “At least no one saw you.” Joshua’s eyes widened briefly as he realized that whoever this nut-job was, he didn’t know that Rachel and Isaac had ran and saw the whole thing. Which meant that, hopefully, he was going to be rescued. If he just held onto that hope, he’d be fine, he told himself. “Though there was an empath in the park as well...and a few other potential assets, but we got you and that’s certainly a start,” The man gently patted Joshua’s jaw. “And we certainly have some catching up to do, don’t we Joshy?” Joshua frowned as the man stood up and adjusted his robe. “I just have a few _things_ to take care of, so stay put~” Joshua rolled his eyes as the man went to the door and opened. “We wouldn’t want to pay a visit to your father figures, now would we?” The door closed and Joshua sighed as he rubbed his wrists gingerly; he really hoped his rescue arrived sooner than later.


End file.
